New Canaan Poll: Tighter Gun Control After Newtown Shooting?

NEW CANAAN, Conn. — Calls to strengthen the nation's gun control laws have come from parents and politicians — and even the president — in the days since 20 children and six adults were shot and killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. New Canaan, tell us what you think in the poll and comments section below.

President Barack Obama has called for "meaningful action" in the wake of the shooting at Sandy Hook School in Newtown.
Photo Credit: *File*

by Staff Report

12/18/2012 5:00 a.m.

The nation must "take meaningful action," President Barack Obama said when he spoke just a few hours after the shooting Friday. He repeated his call for the nation to discuss gun laws when he spoke at a vigil in Newtown on Sunday.

“We can't accept events like these as routine," Obama said in his speech. "Are we really prepared to say we are powerless in the face of such carnage — that the politics are too complicated?"

Gun-rights supporters, including the National Rifle Association, have been mostly quiet since the shooting. Republican U.S. Reps. Louis Gohmert of Texas and Don Richardson of Oregon have suggested arming more school faculty members.

U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, a Democrat who represents much of Fairfield County, said his constituents have told him the nation's gun law should be strengthened. “It’s important to remember that this perp broke every law. He was 20 — you have to be 21 in Connecticut to own a gun. He had an assault rifle — those are illegal in Connecticut," Himes said of Newtown shooter Adam Lanza in an interview with NPR.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., says she plans to introduce a bill that would ban assault weapons when the next Congress comes into session after the New Year.

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