Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting: President Obama, Newtown Families Lobby Senate for Gun Control

If we stand idly by and pretend there is no need for a serious discussion about tougher gun control restrictions in the U.S., we have failed the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn. and their families, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) argued Tuesday.

President Barack Obama and many other senators have had no qualms about invoking the memory of the children slain at Sandy Hook in urging the country to rethink its approach to controlling firearms. As President Obama continues to push his gun control measures in the wake of the second deadliest shooting by a lone gunman in U.S. history, family members of the Newtown shooting victims met privately with senators Tuesday, and ate breakfast with Vice President Joe Biden at his home at the Naval Observatory. 

"We have a responsibility to safeguard these little kids," said Reid from the floor of the Senate, standing in front of a massive image of a memorial to the Newtown victims. "And unless we do something more than what's the law today, we have failed."

Democrat lawmakers are still wrestling with the decision of whether or not to pursue bi-partisan support for the gun control proposals, or follow the less certain path of pushing ahead on its own. President Obama's gun control measures, headlined by restrictions like more background checks, and bans on assault-style weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, have been vehemently opposed by the National Rifle Association and many Republican legislators.

For its part, the NRA has loudly signaled it will not support any attempts to impose even the slightest new gun control restriction, and will attempt stymie any move to pass stricter gun control laws. On the NRA's website a statement argues Congress should spend less time "curtailing the Constitution" and more time "prosecuting criminals or fixing our broken mental health system." With Connecticut's General Assembly, like many states, and Congress, considering stricter gun control measures, the NRA began sending post cards and making automated calls in March urging people to phone their state representatives to fight gun control laws and support the freedom of gun owners. 

President Obama's bill was met with more staunch opposition from legislators on the right Tuesday: 13 conservative Republicans read a joint-letter for Sen. Reid Monday promising to filibuster the measures from ever being even remotely considered. 

Those fighting the proposals, including Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), claimed the Democratic-led push for tighter gun control restrictions violated the Second Amendment right to bear arms, noting "history's lesson that government cannot be in all places at all times, and history's warning about the oppression of a government that tries."

The plan drew condemation from some within the Republican party before it was even formally announced, such as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who has said in the past he supports expanded background checks. "I don't understand it. What are we afraid of?" McCain said Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation."

"Why not take up an amendment and debate? The American people will profit from it," he said.

According to newly released warrants that include reports from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the morning of Dec. 14, 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot his mother Nancy in the head as she lay in bed, packed four legally purchased firearms and drove a black Honda Civic to the Connecticut K-4 elementary school. Lanza opened fire in two classrooms around 9:30 a.m., fatally shooting 20 children and six adults with a Bushmaster .223-caliber rifle, showering the rooms with 154-bullets in less than five minutes before taking his own life with a Glock 10 mm handgun. Police revealed the Bushmaster had a 30-round capacity magazine; 14 rounds were left in the magazine, with one bullet still in the chamber. 

Police now believe Lanza's mother enabled her son's fascination with guns by making "straw purchases" for him. The guns used in the shooting were legally purchased and registered to his mother. Authorities said Lanza was found dressed up in military clothing, including a bulletproof vest. He still had another three, 30-round magazines left for the Bushmaster rifle, as well as another loaded handgun on him. According to another warrant for the Honda Civic driven by Lanza, police found a fully-loaded 12-gauge shotgun in the car, along with 70 rounds of Winchester 12-gauge shotgun rounds. 

Since 1982, there have been "at least 61 mass murders carried out with firearms across the country" in 30 states, according to Mother Jones; of those, 15 occurred in 2012 alone, according to The Huffington Post.

A recent study conducted by The Harvard Injury Control Research Center, who analyzed gun and homicide data and literature, said that available evidence indicated that more guns equals more murders, a finding it said was supported across states, and countries.