Will the senseless killing of 6-year-olds in Newtown, Conn., change the attitudes about guns in United States?
The president told the nation at a memorial Sunday night that incidents like the one in Sandy Hook Elementary School can’t be accepted as routine.
Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told Chris Jansing this morning that there are a number solutions that may be achievable.
“Keep in mind that no single one of them is a panacea that will solve this problem,” he says. “An assault weapon ban, such as what we had in the United States some years ago, expired in 2004. It is good place to begin a restriction on high-capacity magazines.”
Along with better enforcement of current laws and pulling in resources for national health programs, Sen. Blumenthal believes there should be “restrictions on some kinds of ammunition, certain kinds of body armors if that is an option as well.”
This tragedy has many layers to it. Among them, easy access to guns, the mental health of the killer, and reports he had a fascination with violent video games.
“There are cultural aspects of violence in our society, whether it is video games or movies, that kind of debate is healthy for a society. No single right is absolute, the first amendment is not an absolute right nor the second. But, both are deeply enshrined in our constitution,” he said.
“What needs to be done is a balance in addressing the cultural and the other kinds of elements in our society that need to be addressed, I think the sensitivity of those rights has to maintained,” Blumenthal said.
This may be a turning point in the debate. Blumenthal believes that people are having a change of heart about gun control after this tragedy.
“There is a window of opportunity and it needs to be seized that we need to galvanize the country.”
Aparna Zalani