Sandy Hook School Shooting Sparks White House Petitions For Gun Control

Earlier today, a young man identified as Adam Lanza allegedly shot and killed more than a dozen young students at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The tragic event has sparked a conversation, and a few White House petitions, about gun control.

The United States has seen several tragic shootings recently. James Holmes shot and killed dozens at a movie theater in Colorado, Jared Loughner shot Gabrielle Giffords and killed several people who were nearby and just last week an NFL player killed the mother of his 3-month-old child and then took his life in front of his coaches.

After the NFL’s murder-suicide, Bob Costas said:

“(It’s a cliche to say that) something like this really puts it all in perspective … If so, that sort of perspective has a very short shelf life, since we will inevitably hear about the perspective we have supposedly again regained the next time ugly reality intrudes upon our games … Please. Those who need tragedies to continually recalibrate their sense of proportion about sports would seem to have little hope of ever truly achieving perspective.”

Well, just a few days later, the United States has been given some new perspective. Buzzfeed reports that the gun control group Coalition to Stop Gun Violence has seen a huge influx in donors today and several petitions have been started on WhiteHouse.gov asking the government to introduce new legislation to curb gun violence.

The petition reads:

“Immediately address the issue of gun control through the introduction of legislation in Congress. The goal of this petition is to force the Obama Administration to produce legislation that limits access to guns. While a national dialogue is critical, laws are the only means in which we can reducethe number of people murdered in gun related deaths. Powerful lobbying groups allow the ownership of guns to reach beyond the Constitution’s intended purpose of the right to bear arms. Therefore, Congress must act on what is stated law, and face the reality that access to firearms reaches beyond what the Second Amendment intends to achieve. The signatures on this petition represent a collective demand for a bipartisan discussion resulting in a set of laws that regulates how a citizen obtains a gun.”

The petition was started today shortly after the shooting at the elementary school in Connecticut. It has already gathered more than 17,000 signatures. The Obama administration will have to respond once it crosses the 25,000 signature threshold.

What do you think about guns in America? Does the United States have to reconsider its gun laws? How many more tragedies will it take for people to “gain perspective?”

President Obama addressed the shooting today but the White House declared that today was not the day to talk about gun control.

Obama said: “Our hearts are broken today for the parents and grandparents, sisters and brothers of these little children … Our hearts are broken for the parents of the survivors as well.”