This evening, CNN talk master Christiane Amanpour dealt with growing demands of restricting the possession of private weapons after the December 14 massacre at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newton / Connecticut where a mentally disturbed youth took 26 lives, including 20 children, in a shooting spree before killing himself.
Debra Maggart, former Republican Tennessee legislator with a general pro-gun attitude, reported on how National Rifle Association NRA had been turning against her during her election campaign when she decided not to support an NRA promoted bill Maggart considered to be unnecessary.
NRA's official comment after the Sandy Hook massacre was: "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." This is what Wayne Lapierre, executive vice-president of the NRA, said today, his speech being disrupted by protesters. Instead he argued, special school guards should be armed in order to increase security for kids.
Andrew Goddard, president of the Virginia Center for Public Safety, referred to this when he said the head of the NRA is not necessarily representing the NRA's four million members but rather obliged to promote the selling of more guns on behalf of the gun making industry.
It's a well-known problem in the U.S.A. that widespread and sometimes militant lobbyism of the gun maker's industry has blocked any tightening of laws that are, up to now, allowing almost unrestricted private possession of weapons in some states. Yet, there is an interesting aspect that might change this situation on a long term. As pension funds are partly based on shares of the gun maker's industry, economic pressure might be possible to change the industry's behaviour.
Additional material on the phenomenon of school shooting and on school shootings in the U.S.A. is easily available on the web.
Below pictures:
- Personnel of the Sandy Hook fire brigade in grief after the massacre.
- First Lady Michelle Obama addressing the victimized families.
[Source: CNN daily news and Christiane Amanpour special on December 21, 2012]
A localized visitor to "blueprint news" coming from Bethlehem on December 20, 2012:
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