Conn. School Superintendents To Work On National Gun Control Policy
HARTFORD, Conn. (CBSNewYork) - In the wake of Friday's mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., public school superintendents statewide are working to draft national policy for keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally disturbed.
Recommendations by the panel will be made and presented at the national level, according to Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents executive director Dr. Joseph Cirasuolo.
WCBS 880 Connecticut Bureau Chief Fran Schneidau reports
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"This person who did the shooting in Newtown obviously had some serious problems and there should have been some way where he could not have had access to a gun. Had he gone to that school with any other weapon, even a knife, he could not have done the damage that was done," Cirasuolo told WCBS 880 Connecticut Bureau Chief Fran Schneidau.
There is also an underlying fear among the superintendents that another disturbed person will try to copycat what happened in Newtown, said Cirasuolo.
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"We think that it's time for educators to say enough is enough. We are in danger, the children are in danger - and not just in schools. This has happened in shopping malls and movie theaters and houses of worship," Cirasuolo told Schneidau.
Cirasuolo noted that in these most recent shooting rampages, a mentally ill man used an automatic weapon to cause mass devastation, Schneidau reported.
According to police, 20-year-old gunman Adam Lanza used a Bushmaster semi-automatic rifle to kill 26 students and teachers at Sandy Hook on Friday morning, before using one of two handguns he was carrying to take his own life as first responders closed in.
The rifle and the two semi automatic handguns - a Sig Sauer and a Glock - were legally purchased by his mother, police said.
For now, Cirasuolo said schools have boosted police presence and adult supervision.
Cirasuolo said the policy could be ready by February, if not sooner.
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