Newtown
a year later: Nation reflects on legacy of its 2nd-deadliest mass shooting
Remembering the children of Sandy Hook
Horror struck Newtown, Connecticut, in such a disturbing way that
the nation still struggles with its impact a year later.
The
legacy of the second-deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history is so profound
that it cannot hold just one meaning. It holds several. That's because the
crime itself conveys multiple issues in its summary:
A
mentally ill 20-year-old recluse obsessed with school shootings enters Sandy
Hook Elementary School after the morning bell and kills six adult women, 12
girls and eight boys in 11 minutes. The children were 6 or 7 years old. The
heavily armed Adam Lanza, who first killed his mother before taking her car to
the school, also killed himself, in a classroom.
On
the anniversary of the December 14 slaughter -- under the shadow of another
school shooting, this time at Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colorado --
country and community alike pause and reflect on an event known simply as
"Newtown" or "Sandy Hook" and what it says about America on
the matters of guns, mental health, healing, and the human spirit.
Guns
Whether
the United States has reformed its gun laws after the Newtown massacre may
depend on your point of view.
Clearly,
America affirms a right to bear arms.
President
Barack Obama was unable to persuade Congress, as he vowed in Newtown's
aftermath, to "come together and take meaningful action to prevent more
tragedies like this, regardless of the politics" about gun reform.
Obama
failed to even expand background checks on firearm buyers, though he signed 23
executive actions to strengthen existing gun laws and take related steps on
mental health and school safety.
However,
Paul Barrett, author of "Glock: The Rise of America's Gun," said it's
easier today to own a firearm in some states than a year ago.
"The
one-word answer is yes," Barrett, an assistant managing editor and senior
writer at Bloomberg Businessweek, told National Public Radio. "And I say
yes because I think the overall environment in the United States has moved in a
libertarian direction, in a pro-gun direction, away from the idea that the
regulation of the lawful acquisition of firearms has much effect on
crime."
Others
disagree and point to how a growing number of states have reformed gun laws --
in the absence of the federal reforms. Barrett acknowledges the success in
those states, indicating it's not easier to own and operate a gun in those
regions a year after Sandy Hook.
Those
are major victories, according to gun reform advocates who have spent years
working on their cause.
Those
activists assembled this month a report card on all 50 states, grading their
regulations on guns and ammunition, background checks, and prohibitions against
dangerous people buying weapons.
High
grades went to eight states that have enacted major gun reforms: California,
Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey and New York.
Low grades were given to Arizona, Alaska, Wyoming, South Dakota -- states with
some of the highest gun death rates in the country, according to the Law Center
to Prevent Gun Violence and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
"States
have clearly led where Congress has failed, and passed gun measures that will
save lives," Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign, said in a
statement. "But to make this the truly safer nation we all want, we need
the same laws on a federal level."
Mental Health
Lanza,
20, suffered mental health problems. Many people, including the parents whose
children were killed by Lanza, say society needs to better treat these problems
to prevent another disturbed gunman committing a massacre. In fact, to combat
the stigma-loaded phrase of "mental illness," some Newtown parents
have advanced a new wording to illustrate how the issue is deeper or more
organic: "brain health" or "brain illness."
Lanza
was living with his mother, Nancy, 52, in a Newtown house that evoked the
old-growth elegance of New England. She ensured her son received treatment, but
after her son's rampage, she was criticized by some for owning a semiautomatic
rifle and two handguns, a Glock and a Sig Sauer, and giving her son access to
them. Adam Lanza took those firearms to Sandy Hook and used a Bushmaster Model
XM15-E2S rifle in the shooting.
Before
the violence, Lanza had become isolated. His parents divorced in September
2009, and his father, Peter, remarried and moved to an area not far from
Newtown. Their only other child, also a son, 24, wasn't living in the mother's
home.
A
44-page summary of Connecticut authorities' investigation concludes that Lanza
"had significant mental health issues that affected his ability to live a
normal life and to interact with others. What contribution this made to the
shootings, if any, is unknown as those mental health professionals who saw him
did not see anything that would have predicted his future behavior."
Some
Newtown parents and a journalist who wrote a book about the town's atrocity
take exception with that finding. They are raising public awareness about
mental -- or brain -- health issues as a way to prevent catastrophic crimes and
to honor the memory of the children who were slain.
Nancy
Lanza arranged help for her son in school, but once he left school at age 18
and became socially isolated, the mother's options became limited, said
journalist Matthew Lysiak, author of "Newtown: An American Tragedy."
Why she kept guns in the home, however, is "inexplicable," he said.
"When
I tracked through Adam's life -- and I was able to access years' worth of Nancy
Lanza, the mother's, e-mails -- you can see this deterioration of mental health
over the course of many years. And this was a mother who identified that her
son was mentally ill and sought professional help," Lysiak said.
"Still, Adam was not on medication. And the fact that we have a lot of
dangerously mentally ill people around who are not being treated, to me says that
you can expect this rising trend of mass shootings to continue unless we figure
out a solution."
The
parents of Newtown are urging society to make treatment of brain illnesses an
affirmative experience, not a stigmatizing one.
"The
Sandy Hook shooting could have been avoided if the proper intervention had been
made, if he and his family had received help, had sought help and had received
help at an earlier stage," said Nicole Hockley, whose son Dylan, 6, was
killed in the gunfire.
"And
certainly if there hadn't been that sort of open access to firearms, I probably
wouldn't be sitting here talking to you today, and to be honest that would be a
really good thing," Hockley said last week.
The victimized families
Families
who lost a child in the mass shooting still recover from the devastation.
They
are just now beginning to share with the world the depth of the tragedy. Public
comments by the families this weekend are unlikely, as several news outlets,
including CNN, have agreed not to send reporters to Newtown on the anniversary.
"I
had to be on the floor because I felt if I stood up the world would spin away.
I remember asking, why would somebody walk into the school and kill my
child," Jennifer Hensel said in a recent interview. She and Jeremy Richman
lost 6-year-old daughter Avielle Richman in the shooting.
"I
think there's not a minute, not a second of any day that goes by where
somewhere in my head I'm thinking, I don't have my daughter Avielle. She's
gone. That's always in my head," said Richman.
Mark
and Jackie Barden also spoke of falling into an abyss. Their son, Daniel, 7,
was also killed.
"I
still really can't seem to get my head around that this has happened and how
final it is," Jackie Barden said.
Added
her husband: "The bottom just falls out for you. What's left is
faith."
Hensel
and Richman are both research scientists. He studies neuroscience and
neuropsychopharmacology. To seek something constructive in a situation so
destructive, the couple started a foundation in the name of their daughter,
devoted to understanding the biological and environmental factors that can lead
to malevolent behavior.
"We
do think that there are physical manifestations in the brain that lead to all
our behaviors," Richman said. "And if we can understand those, we can
help nudge them one direction or another to make things happier and
healthier."
The community itself
After
much soul searching, the hamlet of Newtown decided to tear down the school,
whose razing began in October.
Another
big decision had to be made: Should the new school be built in the same place
or another?
The
residents would not be bowed: The new school will be built on the same site, a
symbol of resurrection.
It
wasn't an easy choice in a town of 27,000 where everyone seems to have some
sort of connection -- close or loose -- to the school and its carnage.
Should
children return to that scene, even if a new school would greet them?
"It
was gut wrenching," said Richard Harwood, a community building expert who
helped a 28-person task force in Newtown come to a decision.
"This
was really about how the community was going to move forward and under what
conditions and how you were going to balance the needs of the current students
and those of future generations," Harwood said. "There was the
question of building on another site and whether that was giving into evil of
the gunman."
Public
testimony showed divisions, said Harwood, who is president of an institute for
public innovation bearing his name.
"Families
for victims or survivors would speak before the task force," he said.
"They would say something that I wouldn't want to have to be in your shoes
making this decision, and even though I don't agree with your decision, I would
be supportive."
Perhaps
it's these public legacies that are the greatest: Humanity shows compassion in
its darkest hour.
And
a community moves forward the best it can, recognizing, as Harwood said, that
there's "not a perfect solution to an imperfect, horrific situation."
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