That high-profile quote by Sen. Marco Rubio’s spokesman, Alex Conant, continues to get play as the national discussion on gun policy ratchets up from Newtown. Conant noted that “Connecticut’s gun laws, some of the strictest in the nation, were not able to prevent this atrocity.”
Two points.
First, “strictest” in this context is an unconscionably relative term. Nancy Lanza wasn’t restricted from having a small arsenal at home. One that notably included the Bushmaster assault rifle her reclusive, violent video games-obsessed son used to kill her and slaughter 26 others. Arguably, she enabled the mass murders. What would a less “strict” gun law have resulted in? A scene out of The Untouchables?
Second, laws reflect culture. Mrs. Lanza, to be sure, was a strict believer in that region’s zero-sum, “Live Free or Die” existential mantra. The one that’s now being revisited by some locals. And let’s not forget that the National Shooting Sports Foundation, an uber influential lobbying group for gun retailers, has its headquarters right across the road from Sandy Hook Elementary School. The juxtaposition from hell.