#Newtown Shooting Reignites Gun Control Debate
Like this summer’s theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado, Friday’s shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. sparked anew the debate on gun control across social media.
- Anti-gun advocates pushed for greater gun control.
It's not 'anti-American' to want mass shootings to stop in the United States. It's 'pro-American'. #GunControlNow
Do you want to live in a country where you wake up & put bulletproof vests on your kids to go to school? Heartbroken today. #guncontrolnow
Go beyond "keeping families in our thoughts" & call your congressman today. Gun laws in the U.S. are broken & 2012 is proof. #guncontrolnow- Gun-rights supporters argued back:
and why is #guncontrolnow trending? you people really think a law is going to stop a psychopath murderer from getting a gun? stop.
and so it has begun. liberals are preaching for gun control already. stop with your #guncontrolnow crap and focus on the victims, jerks.
#guncontrolnow trending. People who shoot up schools won't be stopped by laws and/or will find guns. #getrealpeople- With at least 25 people, including 18 children and the gunman dead, an emotional President Obama said, "These children are our children and we're going to have to come together to take meaningful action."
- By midday, all of Twitter's top trends in the U.S. (aside from the promoted trend) were associated with the shooting:
- One Twitter user took to asking for "Twitter silence" for a minute in honor of the victims.
One minute of Twitter silence at 3pm PST for victims in the unspeakable shooting in CT. Make our voice heard against @NRA RT #Twittersilence- As news coverage developed, many on Twitter bristled as news organizations took to interviewing children.
If a boss ever asked me to interview a 10-year-old kid after 18 of his/her schoolmates were murdered, I'd quit. #leavethekidsalone #Newtown- Many across the country tried to empathize with the school's parents:
