Elementary School Students’ Lives versus Second Amendment Rights

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The Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act of 2013, introduced March 21, 2013 was a reaction to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that had occurred on December 14 the year prior. The horrific mass murder at the School in Newtown, Connecticut resulted in twenty children and six adult dead, leaving the entire country in horror and shock. In the wake of this tragedy, there was a fierce public outcry to curb gun violence. The shooter, 20 year old Adam Lanza, known for having a history of mental health issies, shot his mother before going to the local elementary school and open firing upon students and faculty. After killing 26 student and faculty, he committed suicide. The majority of the public was devastated by this horrific event, and President Barrack Obama publicly and passionately declared that the time for comprehensive Gun Control Reform was long over due. The Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act of 2013, also known as Senate Bill 649 was a bipartisan compromise to expand background checks for buyers at gun show and on the Internets and to ban assault weapons and high-capacity gun magazines. The bill was generally quite well received by the public, with polls showing support for expanding gun background checks to be between 83 to 91 percent, yet ultimately the Senate still failed to pass it. The failure of this seemingly straightforward and popular bill can be explained due to a combination issues, including collective action problems, the rules governing the Senate, inefficacy of the President in using his informal powers of persuasion, and the powerful efforts of anti-gun control interest groups such as the National Rifle Association.

One explanation for the popular Bill’s failures was a coordination problem on the part...

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...ited

Cary, Mary Kate. "The Gun Control Failure Shows the Senate Works." US News.

U.S.News & World Report, 20 Apr. 2013. Web. 05 Apr. 2014.

“Guns." Gallup.Com. Gallup, Inc., n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2014.

Hickey, Walter. "How The NRA Became The Most Powerful Special Interest In

Washington." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 18 Dec. 2012. Web. 07 Apr. 2014.

"Remarks from the NRA Press Conference on Sandy Hook School Shooting, Delivered

on Dec. 21, 2012 (Transcript)." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 21 Dec. 2012. Web. 05 Apr. 2014.

Weisman, Jonathan. "Senate Blocks Drive for Gun Control." The New York Times. The

New York Times, 17 Apr. 2013. Web. 02 Apr. 2014.

Zeleny, Jeff, Sunlen Miller, Sarah Parnass, and Chris Good. "Obama Takes

Senate to Task for Failed Gun Control Measure." ABC News. ABC News Network, 17 Apr. 2013. Web. 05 Apr. 2014.

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