Democrats to pursue assault weapons ban, as Sandy Hook Elementary 'unlikely to re-open'
232 replies, posted
[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20749167[/url]
[quote=BBC News][B]Two senior US Democrats have called for stricter gun control legislation following the elementary school shootings in Newtown, Connecticut.[/B]
Twenty children and six women died in Friday's assault on Sandy Hook school by a lone gunman who then turned his weapon on himself.
Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy urged stronger national legislation.
And Senator Dianne Feinstein said she would introduce a bill to ban assault weapons as soon as Congress convened.
President Barack Obama - who shortly after the school attack urged "meaningful action" against gun crime in the US - is to visit Newtown on Sunday.
He will meet families and emergency service workers, and speak at an interfaith vigil at the town's high school.
The gunman behind Friday's shootings has been named in media reports as Adam Lanza, who is said to have killed his mother before driving to the school, opening fire and then killing himself.
The state's chief medical examiner said the gunman used a semi-automatic rifle as his main weapon, and all the victims appeared to have been shot several times, some of them at close range.
Speaking on Sunday, Governor Malloy said Connecticut had an existing ban on assault weapons, but the lack of a similar law at federal level made it difficult to keep them out of the state.
"These are assault weapons. You don't hunt deer with these things," he told CNN.
"One can only hope that we'll find a way to limit these weapons that really only have one purpose."
Governor Malloy had to break the news to most of the victim's families on Friday.
"You can never be prepared for that - to tell 18 to 20 families that their loved one would not be returning to them that day or in the future," he said.
Senator Feinstein, who represents California in the upper house of Congress and is a long-term supporter of stricter gun control, told US TV network NBC: "I'm going to introduce in the Senate, and the same bill will be introduced in the House (of Representatives), a bill to ban assault weapons."
Asked if President Obama would support her measure, she said: "I believe he will."
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, another strong gun control advocate, has urged President Obama to act.
"We have heard all the rhetoric before," he said. "What we have not seen is leadership - not from the White House and not from Congress. That must end today."
All 20 children who died in the shootings - eight boys and 12 girls - were aged between six and seven, [url=http://www.ct.gov/despp/cwp/view.asp?Q=515562&A=4226]according to an official list of the dead[/url]. The youngest, Noah Pozner, had celebrated his birthday only last month.
The head teacher at Sandy Hook school in Newtown, Dawn Hochsprung, was among the dead, along with adults Rachel DaVino, Anne Marie Murphy, Lauren Russo, Mary Sherlach and Victoria Soto.
A woman who worked at the school was the only person to be shot and survive.
Scores of people have left tributes at a memorial outside the school, while a minute's silence is being held before National Football League games across the US on Sunday.
Connecticut State Police say the process of releasing the victims' bodies to their families is under way, and have condemned what they term "misinformation" being published on social media about the tragedy - including people wrongly claiming to be the gunman.
[B]Hid in cupboards[/B]
The authorities now say the gunman forced his way into the school, contradicting first reports that he was been let in voluntarily.
Investigators say they have gathered "good evidence" in the search for a motive, but have not given any details.
The gunman is said to have shot dead his mother at their home before driving to the school in her car and opening fire on the victims. Reports say the guns found at the scene were registered to her.
Education officials say they have found no link between the gunman's mother and the school, contrary to earlier reports that said she was a teacher there, the Associated Press news agency reports.
Investigators said they believe Adam Lanza attended Sandy Hook many years ago.
The killings took place in two rooms and a hallway within a single section of the school, police have said. The shooting lasted just a few minutes.
As they heard the shots, teachers in other parts of the building tried to protect children by locking doors and ushering them into closets.
Police say that children are unlikely to return to the classrooms where the shootings took place. Surviving pupils will be taught at other schools in the area while a final decision about the Sandy Hook's future is made, though one official said it was unlikely to re-open.
The suspected gunman's father, Peter Lanza, said his family was "struggling to make sense of what has transpired".
"Our family is grieving along with all those who have been affected by this enormous tragedy," he said in a statement.
Pope Benedict XVI paid tribute to the victims and their families in his weekly address at the Vatican, saying he was "deeply saddened by Friday's senseless violence".
The attack at Newtown is the second deadliest shooting attack at a US school or university, after the Virginia Tech killings of 2007, which left 32 people dead and many injured.
[img]http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/64782000/jpg/_64782873_sandy_hook_school-624v2.jpg[/img][/quote]
Banning Assault Weapons is not the answer to the problem of large attacks involving guns.
Honestly, just going and banning a bunch of guns doesn't address the underlying issue: Why was he able to get his hands on a firearm in the first place, and what is the state of our mental health system?
I was hoping that the silver lining to this whole monstrous situation would be a re-evaluation of the mental health system that Reagan basically [b]DESTROYED[/b], but instead everyone is foaming at the mouth for/against gun control.
IIRC, he didn't even use the assault weapon he had. I'm pretty sure he just used a couple handguns and left the other one in the car.
Yep, just let the government and military use "assault weapons" only.
didn't this state already have tight gun laws already? And was the gun the boy had illegally owned?
Banning assault weapons wouldn't have done anything other than make the dude resort to pistols and shotguns if they were still around. For fucks sake the guns weren't even his, they were his mom and dad's.
This won't go anywhere, the gun control lobby is basically DOA in Congress.
[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;38852581]This won't go anywhere, the gun control lobby is basically DOA in Congress.[/QUOTE]
Except for the fact that "assault weapons" have already been banned before.
It's funny cause the state that this happened in still abides by the 1994 assault weapons ban
[editline]16th December 2012[/editline]
And even if democrats pursue this it won't pass
[QUOTE=King Tiger;38852556]Yep, just let the government and military use "assault weapons" only.[/QUOTE]
please don't start. your m16 might look cute in your closet but you aren't going to win a war against the US military with it, you're insane if you think otherwise. that being said i don't see how the assault weapons ban accomplishes anything, and im pro gun control lol
[QUOTE=Kopimi;38852634]please don't start. your m16 might look cute in your closet but you aren't going to win a war against the US military with it, you're insane if you think otherwise. that being said i don't see how the assault weapons ban accomplishes anything, and im pro gun control lol[/QUOTE]
This is like banning Death-stars because someone fired a medieval cannon.
They should target guns in general or not at all.
[QUOTE=Kopimi;38852634]please don't start. your m16 might look cute in your closet but you aren't going to win a war against the US military with it, you're insane if you think otherwise. that being said i don't see how the assault weapons ban accomplishes anything, and im pro gun control lol[/QUOTE]
So I guess the Libyans and Syrians who didn't even own weapons to begin with shouldn't have won in their revolution?
Cause the government is oh so powerful its unstoppable.
he left his Buschmaster in the car for the attack. no no no, they're going the wrong way, what is needed are mental health care reforms so the nut cases can be identified, treated, and watched
[QUOTE=Kopimi;38852634]please don't start. your m16 might look cute in your closet but you aren't going to win a war against the US military with it, you're insane if you think otherwise. that being said i don't see how the assault weapons ban accomplishes anything, and im pro gun control lol[/QUOTE]
You're probably right. But they aren't going to start anything either.
But I'm intrigued. So you believe that since we could never win a war against the government, that we should just do nothing about their abuses (if there ever are any abuses large enough)?
People kill not guns.
[QUOTE=King Tiger;38852673]You're probably right. But they aren't going to start anything either.
But I'm intrigued. So you believe that since we could never win a war against the government, that we should just do nothing about their abuses (if there ever are any abuses large enough)?[/QUOTE]
No I think you should act politically or flee the country instead of entertaining a morbid fantasy revolving around a suicide mission fighting against the strongest military in the world
[QUOTE=laserguided;38852736]People kill not guns.[/QUOTE]
And the preferred method is with guns.
Cool an assault weapons ban, just like the last one that wor--
Oh
[QUOTE=laserguided;38852736]People kill not guns.[/QUOTE]
Yeah it is pretty hard to kill a gun.
Ban gasoline, it can burn down a house.
[QUOTE=Aman VII;38852655]So I guess the Libyans and Syrians who didn't even own weapons to begin with shouldn't have won in their revolution?
Cause the government is oh so powerful its unstoppable.[/QUOTE]
Omg how adorable you actually think the Libyan military is comparable to the US, and better yet, you think millions of residents of a first world country are going to stand up and overthrow a major world power with semi auto rifles and pistols lol
Didn't even fucking USE the "assault weapons".
Not to mention I'm pretty sure that those weren't even "assault weapons" in the fucking first place.
[QUOTE=laserguided;38852763]Ban gasoline, it can burn down a house.[/QUOTE]
Tell me when people are killing each other by setting them on fire at muggings or in domestic cases and then I will support a ban.
[QUOTE=RichyZ;38852549]he stole the guns from his mother iirc[/QUOTE]
In that case, they weren't locked properly.
I may not agree with an assault weapons ban, but if I had to invest in a gun-safe in order to own a couple of guns, I'd be completely okay with that.
[editline]16th December 2012[/editline]
Actually, even just a locker with a solid lock would have been fine.
[QUOTE=Sobotnik;38852791]Tell me when people are killing each other by setting them on fire at muggings or in domestic cases and then I will support a ban.[/QUOTE]
What about knives, they're the most accessible MURDERING TOOL there is!
[QUOTE=ewitwins;38852793]In that case, they weren't locked properly.
I may not agree with an assault weapons ban, but if I had to invest in a gun-safe in order to own a couple of guns, I'd be completely okay with that.
[editline]16th December 2012[/editline]
Actually, even just a locker with a solid lock would have been fine.[/QUOTE]
It's the law in Illinois to keep your guns in a safe/case. I have absolutely nothing wrong with that.
[QUOTE=Sobotnik;38852791]Tell me when people are killing each other by setting them on fire at muggings or in domestic cases and then I will support a ban.[/QUOTE]
If we banned everything that people murder each other with then we will have still not even [b]TOUCHED[/b] on the actual, underlying issue.
[QUOTE=Sobotnik;38852791]Tell me when people are killing each other by setting them on fire at muggings or in domestic cases and then I will support a ban.[/QUOTE]
People use knives ALL THE TIME to kill, do we ban those?
How about hands? People are strangled and beaten to death every day.
[QUOTE=Zillamaster55;38852814]It's the law in Illinois to keep your guns in a safe/case. I have absolutely nothing wrong with that.[/QUOTE]
I agree completely.
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