Newtown shootings: Obama says tragedies must end
Obama: "Are we really prepared to say we're powerless in the face of such carnage?"
President
Barack Obama has said the US must do more to protect its children in
the wake of Friday's shootings at a school in Newtown, Connecticut.
Speaking at an inter-faith vigil in Newtown, Mr Obama said he
would use the powers of his office to prevent a repeat of the tragedy. He told residents that the nation shared their grief.
Twenty children and six women died in the assault on Sandy Hook school by a lone man who then took his own life.
The gunman has been identified by police as Adam Lanza, 20.
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I really get the feeling of a country struggling to find an appropriate response to this home-grown horror”
He shot dead his mother before driving to the school in her car.
Officials say he was armed with hundreds of rounds of
ammunition, and used a semi-automatic rifle as his main weapon. He was
also carrying two handguns, and a shotgun was recovered from a car.'Can't tolerate this' "I come to offer the love and prayers of a nation," Mr Obama said, speaking after religious leaders and the state governor.
"You are not alone in your grief. All across this land of ours we have wept with you."
Mr Obama repeated a call for action against gun crime, saying that in coming weeks he would use "whatever powers" his office held "in an effort aimed at preventing more tragedies like this".
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There are the shrines that have appeared on the pavements, under the trees and even on some benches. They are made up of brightly coloured candles, flowers and toys, and people crowd around them.
The pretty little shops on the high street have large handwritten signs in their windows. One says: "We shall get through this"; another: "Please pray for us".
All day long there is a procession of people making their way to Sandy Hook Elementary School, the scene of the massacre which has become a place of pilgrimage. They carry flowers and are often accompanied by their children.
Everywhere there are journalists, talking into cameras or phones in several different languages. At night the streets have three sources of light: the Christmas decorations, the candles and the glare coming from the equipment of TV news crews.
Despite all the noise and rush of activity, it is a deeply moving scene.
At the scene
The tiny town of Sandy Hook has become crowded.There are the shrines that have appeared on the pavements, under the trees and even on some benches. They are made up of brightly coloured candles, flowers and toys, and people crowd around them.
The pretty little shops on the high street have large handwritten signs in their windows. One says: "We shall get through this"; another: "Please pray for us".
All day long there is a procession of people making their way to Sandy Hook Elementary School, the scene of the massacre which has become a place of pilgrimage. They carry flowers and are often accompanied by their children.
Everywhere there are journalists, talking into cameras or phones in several different languages. At night the streets have three sources of light: the Christmas decorations, the candles and the glare coming from the equipment of TV news crews.
Despite all the noise and rush of activity, it is a deeply moving scene.
"We can't tolerate this anymore," he said. "These tragedies must end and to end them we must change."
The complex causes of gun crime "can't be an excuse for inaction", he said.Mr Obama was also meeting victims' families and emergency service workers.
All 20 children who died in the shootings - eight boys and 12 girls - were aged between six and seven, according to an official list of the dead. The school's head teacher, Dawn Hochsprung, was among those killed.
All victims were shot several times, some of them at close range.
Police say the process of releasing the victims' bodies to their families is under way.
Gun control calls Mr Obama made an appeal for "meaningful action" against gun crime in the US shortly after the attack on Friday.
Sunday saw two senior US Democrats call for stricter gun control.
Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy said his state had an existing ban on assault weapons, but the lack of a similar law at federal level made it difficult to keep them out of the state.
"These are assault weapons. You don't hunt deer with these things," he told CNN. "One can only hope that we'll find a way to limit these weapons that really only have one purpose."
Governor Malloy had to break the news to most of the victim's families on Friday.
"You can never be prepared for that - to tell 18 to 20 families that their loved one would not be returning to them that day or in the future," he said.
Lt Paul Vance confirmed that the gunman had been identified as Adam Lanza
Asked if President Obama would support her measure, she said: "I believe he will."
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, another strong gun control advocate, has urged President Obama to act.
"We have heard all the rhetoric before," he said. "What we have not seen is leadership - not from the White House and not from Congress. That must end today."
A nationwide ban on certain semi-automatic rifles in the US expired in 2004.
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