Sandy Hook plus one year

by Rosemary Roberts, Greensboro News-Record, December 2, 2013.

Gunfire claims a life every 20 minutes in America. Approximately 30,000 people die each year from guns here. There are nearly 300 million guns in private hands, almost as many guns as people.

Rapidly approaching is the anniversary of one of the worst chapters of gun violence in America that occurred in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14. In the days ahead, there will be chilling accounts of the slaughter and its aftermath. There will be questions about whether the massacre could have been prevented.

There will also be outrage among some of us that so little has changed in gun-loving America since Newtown. And there will be disgust about our spineless politicians who cave in to the powerful gun lobby, which pours money into their campaign coffers.

Last week, the Connecticut police released a report following a yearlong investigation about the Newtown slaughter. A brief review of the details:

On the morning of Dec. 14, 2012, Adam Lanza, 20, walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School armed to the teeth. Within 10 minutes, he murdered 20 first-graders and six educators. Earlier that morning, he had killed his mother as she lay sleeping at their nearby home. Finally, he killed himself after the school shootings.

Lanza’s arsenal that day at Sandy Hook Elementary consisted of a Bushmaster .223-caliber rifle, which is a semiautomatic weapon. It enabled him to fire 154 rounds in a brief time.

Between 1994 and 2004, assault weapons similar to the one used at Sandy Hook were banned in America. They were deemed to be weapons for shooting people, not for sport. Under pressure from the National Rifle Association and other gun groups, Congress refused to extend the assault-weapons ban in 2004. What guts!

The Connecticut police report confirmed that Lanza had been treated for mental disorders. In the final months of his life, his behavior had become increasingly weird. He had covered the windows of his room with black trash bags. He became increasingly reclusive.

Yet his mother, Nancy Lanza, who was separated from his father and lived alone with Adam, planned to buy him a gun for Christmas. How mind-boggling does it get, given his bizarre mental health that she knew about?

The police report said: “The mother wanted to buy the shooter a CZ 83 pistol for Christmas and had prepared a check for that purchase to give the shooter. The mother never expressed fear of the shooter, for her own safety or that of anyone else.”

In the immediate aftermath of the shootings, President Barack Obama, who tends to be emotionally detached by nature, had tears in his eyes when he publicly mourned the deaths. “We have been through this too many times. We’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.”

Many predicted the massacre of 20 little children would be such a heartbreaking event that it would be a tipping point. Lawmakers, many predicted, would finally tighten gun control regulations. It looked, at least momentarily, as if Congress and state lawmakers would ignore the powerful gun lobby and do what was right.

Many thought Congress, at the very least, would adopt universal background checks for all gun sales. Polls showed a majority of Americans favored the background checks. But the powerful gun lobby prevailed. Its premise is, don’t give up an inch of your God-given right to own a gun. Period.

Alas, the universal background check proposal was defeated. The NRA and gun lobby grew more and more powerful. Politicians in Washington and statehouses obliged them. White House leadership for tighter gun control laws tended to be tepid, too.

So where do things stand? If anything, some state legislatures have actually weakened existing gun control laws. The benighted North Carolina legislature passed a law permitting people to carry concealed weapons in bars (even though many tavern owners disapprove of it). And, thanks to the legislature, college students are now allowed to bring guns onto campuses if the weapons remain in the students’ cars. Colleges oppose the new law.

As the first anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre draws near, it is a sad commentary on our society and our politicians that so little has changed on the gun front in America. In fact, another person has died of gun violence by the time you’ve finished reading this column.