“Today, our thoughts are with the families, first responders and the Newtown community-those who, despite their broken hearts, live each day as an inspiration to us all”, Connecticut Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty said in a statement. She has since co-founded Americans for Responsible Solutions, “engaging millions of people about ways to reduce gun violence and supporting lawmakers willing to take a stand for responsible policies”.
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Meanwhile, Wayne LaPierre, the NRA’s executive vice-president, defended the association, saying, “When evil knocks on our doors, Americans have a power no other people on the planet share: the full-throated right to defend our families and ourselves with our second amendment”. At the elementary schools, there will be no mention of the shooting.
Connolly was joined by the parents of Alison Parker, one of two Roanoke, Virginia, television journalists shot dead by a former station employee during a live broadcast in August, and two survivors of a 2011 shooting in Tucson, Arizona, that badly wounded then-US Representative Gabrielle Giffords and killed six others.
In fact, 554 kids under the age of 23 have died from gunshots in the three years since the horrific crime, according to an NBC News analysis. It shocks us more and more until we get to the point that it doesn’t shock us anymore.
On the day after Thanksgiving this year, USA gun sales approached a single-day record. Meanwhile, several states have passed laws shielding the identities of permit holders to protect privacy and prevent potential harassment.
“I said, ‘OK, we’re getting in the closet.’ We tried to make it a game for the kids”.
The anniversary fell on a school day this year for the first time, and Newtown education officials deliberated before deciding to leave schools open. Under that law, guns have to remain concealed but will be allowed into most buildings on public college campuses. Lanza arrived at Sand Hook at approximately 9:30 a.m. and shot his way into Sandy Hook by shooting out one of the windows at the entrance. Gun laws in 15 states and Washington, DC – covering 44 percent of the population – have been strengthened.
‘For anyone to accept this as “normal” is just wrong, and for anyone to throw up their hands and say, “Well, what can be done?” – that’s not helping. “That we are going to take away guns as opposed to just, listen, being smarter about what we are doing and how we manufacture guns”, said Kehoe.
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Associated Press Writer Emily Wagster Pettus in Jackson, Mississippi, contributed to this report.
