Gun control voice could be powerful in Newtown

NEWTOWN, Conn. -- Five days after a mass shooting here prompted a handful of friends to mobilize for gun control, the group has swelled to several dozen residents who were Wednesday by two U.S. senators.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal told the group, which calls itself Newtown United, they could make a historic difference because they came together while the nation's attention is still focused on Newtown.

"This horrific tragedy has changed America in a way that it is ready to stop gun violence," the Connecticut Democrat said. "Your mobilizing is going to be profoundly important to making America safer."

Newtown United formed around Lee Shull, a computer consultant who lives a block away from the home where Lanza shot his mother Friday. Shull's twins, now in an intermediate school, attended Sandy Hook elementary, where Lanza forced his way in and killed 20 children, six teachers and administrators before killing himself.

That day, Shull says, he realized the neighborhood he once considered safe is not. "And if we're not, nobody is really safe, not just in this community but across the country," Shull said.

On Saturday, he started talking to friends about what to do so that Newtown, a quaint New England village of well kept homes and large rolling lawns, is remembered for "something positive" instead of tragedy. Their focus quickly centered on guns, he said. They used their contacts and quickly got interviews with CNN and a trip to Washington to spread the word.

The slaughter at Sandy Hook Elementary School Friday prompted a flood of emails and letters and a changed tone in conversations with Senate colleagues about gun control, Blumenthal said.

"We've seen a cosmic shift in this country," he said.

Blumenthal, a former federal and state prosecutor, says the country would be safer if it ended the sale of military style weapons and large capacity magazines of the type that Adam Lanza used in Friday's attack, and enacting greater mental health outreach that "makes sure people who are deranged don't have these weapons in their hands."

Blumenthal addressed the group with fellow democrat Chris Murphy who was elected to the Senate in November and will take office in January.

The National Rifle Association, which has been silent since the shooting, plans a press conference Friday, Dec. 21.

The anger was palpable at Wednesday's meeting at Newtown's C.H. Booth library, where people threw out ideas for how to get attention to their cause and what issues they should focus on.

One resident, Jason Petrelli, repeatedly shouted for the group leaders to leave talking behind and take action. "Set a date and place" for where it will happen, and to keep the momentum going, he said. "You've got to push hard and don't get stuck in the swamp."

Max Goldstein, 12, told the group about a drive he and his father, Craig Mittleman, started after the massacre to collect and destroy violent video games, which Max said he and his brother used to enjoy playing but now detest.

Steven Tenenbaum, a general surgeon who lives in Newtown, urged the mostly middle-aged and polite group to get edgy to attract attention. "Those violent video games we need to run over with bulldozers," Tenenbaum said.

John Neuhoff urged them to focus on acheivable goals. Instead of trying to ban all guns, he suggested enacting a local law requiring trigger guards, with keys kept at the police station.

Tess Murray, a student at Newtown High School, said many of her friends are passionate about the issue and should be put to work for the cause. Some can make a video for the group and post it online. Others can write letters to Congress, Murray said.

She plans to ask Newtown school principals to tell students who want to do something to do it for Newtown United.

"We kneed a goal to focus on, like writing letters to senators who disapprove of what we're trying to do," she said. "If these senators get letters like that every single day from people in Newtown, Conn., who witnessed this, I don't know how they could say 'No.'"

Another high school student talked about the Facebook page he created for the group, which he says already has 6,000 followers..

Murphy also addressed the crowd. He advised the group to stay away from specific policy points and focus on mobilizing, lobbying Congress and keeping the issue in the news.

Gun lobbyists believe the status quo will continue as soon as the nation's attention on the tragedy wanes, Murphy said.

"When the TV cameras leave town it'll be a sense of normalcy but they will move on to another story," Murphy said. "That's what the gun lobby is counting on."