How quickly we've forgotten.
When we heard the first news reports, most of us, nearly all of us, were horrified. A gunman had entered Sandy Hook Elementary School 11 days before Christmas and fired round after round of bullets.
We wouldn't know the damage right away as anxious parents counted each second while authorities searched the building.
Imagine being a parent, standing there, without your child, praying that someone will open a door and your child will run out to greet you.
Authorities released more information about the shooting Thursday: Adam Lanza's mother, Nancy, had a gun safe in her bedroom. Adam Lanza, police say, shot his mother in the forehead as she lay in bed. Adam Lanza took his mother's guns and went to the school and shot 20 children and six stewards caring for them. Then Adam Lanza shot himself.
• Related: Details of Connecticut school shootings released
Imagine being a parent who watches other parents unite with their children at a firehouse down the street while you stand, waiting ... praying ...
Authorities released a report Thursday on weapons and bullets found at the Lanza home. The list, according to news reports, included three guns -- an Enfield bolt-action .323 rifle, a Savage Mark II .22-caliber rifle with magazine and a black marksman BB gun -- and enough ammunition to outfit a small band of guerrillas. There were 15 knives, including three samurai swords, and gear that included paper and cardboard targets, holsters and manuals.
Lanza was well prepared, and well armed, for the attack he unleashed on innocent children and adults at Sandy Hook.
We're learning more about him, too.
News reports say Lanza was a loner and avid video game player. Authorities found "Call of Duty," a war game, at his house. Oh, and authorities also found Adam Lanza and Nancy Lanza's National Rifle Association certificates, along with three photographs of images that appear to be a deceased human covered with plastic and what appears to be blood.
Now imagine you're a parent who hears this week's news, not even four months after the tragic shooting of elementary school children stopped a nation in its tracks.
Now imagine that you learn public support for improved gun control has dropped, really dropped.
A CBS News poll shows that a majority of Americans -- 47% -- no longer want stricter gun measures. That's down from the 57% of Americans who said they preferred stronger gun control right after the shootings, when the little faces of the victims were still all over the news.
Republicans have vowed to block even the most sensible measures proposed by President Barack Obama; most even voted against a bill that would have increased penalties for so-called "straw purchasers," legal gun buyers who acquire weapons they later sell or give to people who couldn't buy them legally.
• Related: President Barack Obama urges Congress to pass gun-control measures
As a result, Democrats have largely backed down. The proposals before Congress right now are a scaled-down version of the president's original gun control ideas.
There is no assault-weapons ban. There's no limit on high-capacity magazines, the very things that Adam Lanza used to murder 26 angels.
Imagine that.
Contact Rochelle Riley: [email protected]
When we heard the first news reports, most of us, nearly all of us, were horrified. A gunman had entered Sandy Hook Elementary School 11 days before Christmas and fired round after round of bullets.
We wouldn't know the damage right away as anxious parents counted each second while authorities searched the building.
Imagine being a parent, standing there, without your child, praying that someone will open a door and your child will run out to greet you.
Authorities released more information about the shooting Thursday: Adam Lanza's mother, Nancy, had a gun safe in her bedroom. Adam Lanza, police say, shot his mother in the forehead as she lay in bed. Adam Lanza took his mother's guns and went to the school and shot 20 children and six stewards caring for them. Then Adam Lanza shot himself.
• Related: Details of Connecticut school shootings released
Imagine being a parent who watches other parents unite with their children at a firehouse down the street while you stand, waiting ... praying ...
Authorities released a report Thursday on weapons and bullets found at the Lanza home. The list, according to news reports, included three guns -- an Enfield bolt-action .323 rifle, a Savage Mark II .22-caliber rifle with magazine and a black marksman BB gun -- and enough ammunition to outfit a small band of guerrillas. There were 15 knives, including three samurai swords, and gear that included paper and cardboard targets, holsters and manuals.
Lanza was well prepared, and well armed, for the attack he unleashed on innocent children and adults at Sandy Hook.
We're learning more about him, too.
News reports say Lanza was a loner and avid video game player. Authorities found "Call of Duty," a war game, at his house. Oh, and authorities also found Adam Lanza and Nancy Lanza's National Rifle Association certificates, along with three photographs of images that appear to be a deceased human covered with plastic and what appears to be blood.
Now imagine you're a parent who hears this week's news, not even four months after the tragic shooting of elementary school children stopped a nation in its tracks.
Now imagine that you learn public support for improved gun control has dropped, really dropped.
A CBS News poll shows that a majority of Americans -- 47% -- no longer want stricter gun measures. That's down from the 57% of Americans who said they preferred stronger gun control right after the shootings, when the little faces of the victims were still all over the news.
Republicans have vowed to block even the most sensible measures proposed by President Barack Obama; most even voted against a bill that would have increased penalties for so-called "straw purchasers," legal gun buyers who acquire weapons they later sell or give to people who couldn't buy them legally.
• Related: President Barack Obama urges Congress to pass gun-control measures
As a result, Democrats have largely backed down. The proposals before Congress right now are a scaled-down version of the president's original gun control ideas.
There is no assault-weapons ban. There's no limit on high-capacity magazines, the very things that Adam Lanza used to murder 26 angels.
Imagine that.
Contact Rochelle Riley: [email protected]