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President Barack Obama said the nation must "take meaningful action" 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 Sunday at a vigil in Newtown.
“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. A few politicians have suggested arming more school faculty members.
U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) said she plans to introduce a bill banning assault weapons when the next Congress comes into session after the new year. Rep. Eliot Engel (D-Bronx), who represents New York’s 17th Congressional District, issued a statement expressing his dismay over the violence.
"As a father of three, I am horrified by the violence committed against these innocent children and teachers in Connecticut," he said. "I am appalled that someone could commit such an insane act and actually pull that trigger ending those young lives."
Engel said he hoped Congress would be able to use this incident to increase gun control around the country.
"We must come to grips with the horrors of the growing gun violence we are witnessing with all too much frequency," he said. "This country must keep guns out of the hands of deranged murderers, and the fact that we cannot pass sensible gun control in this Congress is a blot on our reputation. We owe it to the memories of the children and teachers murdered."
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