In Era Of Conspiracy Theorists, Sandy Hook Families Are Having To Prove Their Children Lived And Their Children Died
But they're starting to gain ground against the hoaxers. Meanwhile, a top Virginia Republican proposed surprise legislation that would ban guns in government buildings.
It was just weeks after 26 people were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School when Lenny Pozner first saw people speculating online that the rampage had been staged, with crisis actors responding to a fake attack. His 6-year-old son, Noah Pozner, who had gone to school that morning in a Batman sweatshirt, was one of the 20 children killed in Newtown, Conn., in December 2012. (Svrluga, 7/8)
A top Virginia Republican is calling for a broad ban on guns in government buildings, surprise legislation he filed the day before state lawmakers are set to debate gun laws. Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norment filed a bill Monday that would extend a state prohibition on guns in courthouses to any "building owned or used by a locality for governmental purposes." It would also increase the penalty for breaking the law from a misdemeanor to a felony. (7/8)
Norment鈥檚 bill, which caught GOP colleagues off guard, goes further than a similar measure proposed by a Republican delegate. Both are the strongest signs that some GOP lawmakers might support at least one priority set by Gov. Ralph Northam (D) when he called the General Assembly back to work. Northam ordered the special session in the wake of the May 31 mass shooting in Virginia Beach in which 12 people were killed. Republicans who control the legislature have stymied gun control bills year after year and have accused Northam of trying to capi颅tal颅ize on tragedy for political gain. (Schneider and Vozzella, 7/8)
And in other gun safety news 鈥
In all the debate about whether doctors should screen patients to prevent gun injuries or death, [Kamau] Karanja has stumbled on a key missing piece: What questions might deliver answers that matter?Slowly, cautiously, Karanja has begun testing some gun-related routine check-up questions with his patients. (Bebinger, 7/9)
Civil rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, Southern Poverty Law Center and several that advocate for people with disabilities or mental health issues, said Tuesday that the state should re-evaluate its plan for creating an expansive database of student discipline and behavior. In a letter scheduled to be sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis at 6 a.m. Tuesday, the 32 groups wrote that the still-developing database amounted to an 鈥渙verly broad鈥 attempt at 鈥渕ass surveillance鈥 of students that could end up discouraging kids from reporting bullying incidents or mental health needs out of fear that they could be labeled as a 鈥減otential school shooter.鈥 (Mahoney, 7/9)
