Advertisement

Remembering The Newtown Tragedy, One Year Later

46:38
Download Audio
Resume

A year after the Sandy Hook school shooting we look at its impact on Newtown, Connecticut and the nation.

Family members representing fourteen of the twenty-six victims from the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting address the media, Monday, Dec. 9, 2013, in Newtown, Conn. Newtown is not hosting formal events to mark the anniversary Saturday. (AP)
Family members representing fourteen of the twenty-six victims from the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting address the media, Monday, Dec. 9, 2013, in Newtown, Conn. Newtown is not hosting formal events to mark the anniversary Saturday. (AP)

A year ago Saturday, the news from Newtown, Connecticut was almost too terrible to believe.  Shooting.  Mass shooting. In a school.  On an ordinary December day, when Christmas decorations fluttered in the breeze.  And then the death toll.  Twenty little children.  Six teachers.  A horrifying toll that justified the word massacre – in an elementary school.  The whole country was stunned.  The promise of gun reform was never louder.  Clearer.  Then week by week, it got more complicated.  Now it’s a year.  This hour On Point:  Newtown, Sandy Hook, and this country, one year on.
-- Tom Ashbrook

Guests

Rev. Josh Pawelek, minister of the Unitarian Universality Society East in Manchester, Connecticut. (@RevJoshPawelek)

Robert Spitzer, professor of political science at the State University of New York College at Cortland. Author of "The Politics of Gun Control" and "The Right To Bear Arms: Rights And Liberties Under The Law."

Lisa Miller, contributing editor at New York Magazine. Religion columnist at The Washington Post. Author of "Heaven: Our Enduring Fascination With The Afterlife." (@lisaxmiller)

From Tom's Reading List

New York: Orders of Grief — "Children have not been to school at Sandy Hook Elementary since the morning of December 14. The community recently voted to raze the school and erect a new one in its place—the demolition has begun—but this past December, it was where everyone wanted to be, and an enormous shrine grew up in the grassy space by the road, spreading down the main street and into the central intersection of Sandy Hook, by the Subway shop and the hair-cutting place, a seemingly boundless jumble of flowers and cards and signs and votive candles and more stuffed animals and more Christmas trees and more ornaments and angels."

Hartford Courant: In Newtown, Preserving World's Reaction To Unspeakable Tragedy — "Many well-wishers can see their letters on the project's website, embracingnewtown.com, which was launched Tuesday. A group of photojournalists were also recruited for the project to document the material, which was later digitally scanned to be part of the website.'We just spent time creating this space of love,' Moreno said. 'Because there was room for nothing else.' People like Moreno, former reference librarian Andrea Zimmermann, town historian Daniel Cruson and a score of other volunteers were motivated by the rightness of this project, the undeniable value of preserving the world's reaction to a nearly unspeakable tragedy."

Mother Jones: At Least 194 Children Have Been Shot to Death Since Newtown --"A year after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Mother Jones has analyzed the subsequent deaths of 194 children ages 12 and under who were reported in news accounts to have died in gun accidents, homicides, and suicides. They are spread across 43 states, from inner cities to tiny rural towns. Following Sandy Hook, the National Rifle Association and its allies argued that arming more adults is the solution to protecting children, be it from deranged mass shooters or from home invaders."

This program aired on December 12, 2013.

Advertisement

More from On Point

Listen Live
Close