Sandy Hook
The story of Sandy Hook is a tragic one.The background of Sandy Hook is that on December 14, 2012 a young man named Adam Lanza went into Sandy Hook Elementary School and started shooting anyone he could find. He murdered twenty six people and injured two before he shot himself. For more specifics Adam Lanzo murdered twenty students and six teachers and administrators. He killed his own mother Nancy Lanza at his home before heading to the school to murder more people. Before he left to commit the mass shooting he made sure to erase and destroy everything on his computer.
He used a .22-caliber rifle to shoot his mother four times that she had purchased and the AR- 15 that Alonzo used on the school. Alonzo used a shotgun, two semi automatic pistols, and an AR-15. According to Michael Ray in the Britannia article he said “ She has purchased the rifle, as well an AR-15-the civilian semi automatic version of the military M16 assault rifle”. For better understanding on the background of sand hook the article is here.
Controversy
The controversies that came with Sandy Hook afterwards was how the government and the people tried to come together to figure out how to prevent these things from happening ever again. Another controversy that Sandy Hook caused is when an influencer named Alex Jones started to claim that it was a hoax to get support to take American guns away.
After the shooting congress tried to pass many laws on gun control on certain guns and magazines similar to the ones that Alonzo used. The first bill introduced by senator Dianne Feinstein a little after the shooting tried to ban a hundred and fifty rifles. Also any magazines that carried over ten rounds of ammunition. The bill was not passed in congress so the government has been trying to find some other way they can prevent mass shootings that can actually pass in congress.
The NRA proposed that they will send someone to multiple armed people to public and private schools to keep everyone safe. But this was immediately shot down because most schools already have on duty officers on campus.
Controversy
Alex Jones started to come up with theories about Sandy Hook being a hoax. This caused a lot of controversial events to happen because Alex Jones had a very large following that believed anything that he had said. Those followers started harassing the victims family trying to supposedly pressure them into telling them the truth. Alex Jones influenced these followers to do this for months causing so much more trauma for the victim’s families. Because of the damage he has caused he is being sued for everything he has. Alex John has also lost his platform to spread his conspiracies. For more information about the case is here
Alex Jones uses the plain folks device of propaganda to spread his influence because he claims that he is trying to save us or teach us on what’s going on because he is a true American. According to the article about propaganda devices, plain folks is the method by which a speaker attempts to convince the audience that he or she and his or her ideas are good because they are of the people. This fits perfectly with how Alex Jones gets his followers to do as he wants because they believe he is just like one of them and is trying to protect them.
