Tis The Season of Holiday Crime

Millions of people around the world, tend to celebrate the months of December to January as the Holidays. A time for family and friend gatherings, joyous laughter, to gift giving and celebrating in a new year. But it seems this year of the holidays has brought nothing but great Old Saint Nick. Merely the holiday cheer has disappeared somewhere and many people this year has gone completely mental.

On December 14, 2012, in a town of Newton, Connecticut 20 year old Adam Lanza of Newton, CT had on that horrific morning jumped into his mother's car and drove to the school of Sandy Hook Elementary. He had brought three loaded guns, one which was discovered to be a .223 caliber rifle. The guns, registered in Nancy Lanza, the mother, had been found later that morning shot several times in the head in her bedroom home. Adam had apparently destroyed all electrical devices in the home from the laptops to televisions. Adam had lived with his mother in Newton, CT, which is a well to do part of town. Most are well to do doctors or hold white collar positions ranging from IBM to Pepsi.

Following the hours of uncertainty during which many media outlets had proclaimed in the beginning the shooter's identity to be of Adam's older brother, 24 year old Ryan Lanza of Hoboken, New Jersey. Hours later an official identified the gunman as Ryan's brother, that of Adam Lanza. Reports had stated the principal , Dawn Hoschsprung, and a school psychologist were killed at the school first. He had appeared at the school around 9:40am, about a half hour after school began. Adam had 2 guns on him when he entered the school and had committed suicide in the end. The toll of people that were killed that fateful morning, including their mother, Nancy Lanza, was not at 28. It was stated by law enforcement that Lanza had a possible personality disorder. Ryan Lanza, the older brother, stated he hasn't spoken to his brother since 2010.

The day after Christmas, in Upstate, New York, in a city called Glens Falls, a 69 year old man had been charged in the manslaughter of his wife's suicide. Authorities stated that 59 year old Kathi Skelie was found dead from a self inflicted gunshot wound at the home she shared with her husband, Willard Skelie. Skelie had confessed to buying the shotgun , showing his mentally ill wife how to use it and then leaving it loaded that day while he went hunting. He was charged with second degree manslaughter after he had failed a lie detector test.

On the morning of Christmas Eve, December 24, 2012, William Spengler, 62, an ex-con, had set out on a quest to burn down his neighborhood just before sunrise. He had plenty of ammunition with him as he waited to ambush the first responders. Spengler had shot two firemen, including himself from a self inflicted gunshot wound. Authorities had discovered as well, the body of the suspect's sister, 67 year old Cheryl Spengler who was found in the fire ravaged home she shared with her brother.

Spengler used a semi automatic military style rifle. He had pledged a typed letter stating to burn down his neighborhood and do what he did best, "killing people". Spengler had spent 17years in prison for manslaughter in the 1980 hammer slaying of his grandmother.

Christmas Day had seemed to be quiet through the media. However the following day, December 26, in Granger, New York, 47 year old David Scott had been charged after he fired a shotgun in the direction of his girlfriend during a domestic dispute. Authorities had stated that Scott was arguing with his girlfriend earlier Christmas morning at a home in Scott's hometown of Northern Allegany when he had grabbed a shotgun and fired it. The girlfriend was not injured, and Scott was charged with reckless endangerment, to criminal possession of a weapon.

The night after the Sandy Hook massacre, a gunman had pulled behind a car in Kansas City's East Side and had opened fire. It struck 4 year old Aydan Perea in the head. The boy had just entered his fathers' car when he was struck. It wasn't the preschoolers first brush with gun violence either. The year before, a gunman had fired a shotgun at the house where Aydan had been staying. No injuries were reported, but bullets shattered a front window and riddled a parked car.

In the weeks after the Sandy Hook Massacre, a body had been found inside a vacant house, a car wash, in a bodea. They had been discovered on a bike trail, in a backyard and inside the front office of a motel, and in aligning Chevy pickup. They had been the 67th murder in their city, and the 88th and the 124th All with one common interest, the murder weapon. All had died from gunshots. Shots to the head, to the chest.

There was murder suicides as well during this holiday season. One had been shot in the face while sleeping. A baby was sound alseep in a crib nearby One was a grandmother on her way home from the store. In Guthrie, Oklahoma, a three year old died after accidentally shooting himself in the head with a gun he had found inside his Aunt and Uncle's home. His uncle is a Oklahoma state trooper.

Paul Sampleton, 14, was discovered in the kitchen bound and shot in his Gwinnett, GA town home. His father had found him and authorities suspected a robbery motive. A 20 year old man had shot and killed 30 year old Veronica Soto in an apparent road rage incident. Soto, a mother of two and her husband had to a nearby Jack In the Box in the Houston area when they had become involved in a confrontation with drivers in two other cars. Accused killer, Mark Trevino and the victims husband had pulled guns on one another. Mark Trevino came to a stop, ran into his home and had grabbed a rifle and began shooting. Soto was shot in the head. Her husband also pulled out his gun and they began shooting at each other when a bullet went through the windshield, hitting Soto , and out through the back windshield. She had turned 30 and was the mother of two children, seven and fourteen.

Ramona Foreman was found shot in the doorway of the Oakland, California Head Start Office. The 48 year old and her sister were walking home from the store when shots rang out. Foreman had been the innocent victim of a drive by shooting.
Deputy Sheriff Christopher Parsons, 31, was working on a early morning shift when he received a emergency call to assist an unconscious woman at a trailer park in Mineral Point, Missouri. As Parsons helped place the woman in the ambulance, the woman's son came out of the mobile home and fired a rifle, instantly killing Deputy Parsons.

In New Orleans, three people were shot and killed, including a 18 year old, and two 56 yr olds, one being a Jefferson Parish taxi driver whom was shot behind the wheel. Authorities state that Joseph Wilfred, the taxi driver, had been on the job only three weeks. Twenty-five year old Krystal Garcia Nacoa was allegly shot to death by her husband Lenardo Narcoa, twenty-six in Porterville, California in their home. Police had discovered Narcoa's cell and had called it several times until he finally picked it up. He admitted to fleeing to the border of Mexico and in the end was convinced to surrender. The couple had three young children whom were int he home at the time of the shooting, but not injured.

December 28, in Glauceter Township, New Jersey, a man that was being processed on a domestic violence charge had grabbed a gun and shot and injured three officers at a police station before he was killed himself. It had happened in Camden County at the Gloucester township police state. Authorities state gunfire had erupted inside the station before six a.m. Friday morning. As the man was being processed on a domestic violence complaint, he had grabbed a gun and began firing. Three officers were hit before the suspect was shot and killed. The three officers had wounds ranging from the abdomen to other minor injuries.

It seems that this month of Holiday Cheer has really gone up in smoke when it comes to the law of guns. In this day and age, and how crime seems to go up every year, more and more people are purchasing guns to protect themselves. But is it really inside of protecting our home to our personal belongings, are we just inviting others to misuse the effects of what a gun was meant for? Some places have stopped the sale of guns, such as Dick's Sportings Goods and Walmart's . Will others follow? What about the gun stores themselves? It is a wonder how guns in today's society can be such the worst form of evil during the end of the year.