What would have prevented Adam Lanza from mass murder at Sandy Hook? -- By Emily Miller, The Washington Times

We cannot understand how the Sandy Hook Elementary School victims’ families feel. But Adam Lanza’s horrifying mass murder in Newton, Conn. almost a year ago remains an unresolved pain in the hearts of many Americans.

We search for something to blame in order to get closure from both getting justice and acting to prevent a similar tragedy. Unfortunately, that answer remains elusive.

On Monday, Connecticut State’s Attorney’s Stephen J. Sedensky III released the final report of the Dec. 14 events in which Adam Lanza shot and killed his mother, himself and 20 children and six educators in Newtown.

Mr. Sedensky closed the investigation without charging anyone or finding a motive for the crimes.

Blame the guns?

Before the children’s bodies had been taken out of the school, politicians like New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg blamed guns, not the murderer, for the events. Within 48 hours, President Obama called for new gun control laws, including “assault-weapon” and “high-capacity magazine” bans to prevent the rare mass shooting.

The state’s attorney report shows that all the guns and the ammunition were legally bought by the shooter’s mother, Nancy Lanza. Lanza used a Bushmaster Model XM15-E2S rifle in 5.56 caliber in the mass killing, then killed himself with a Glock 20 pistol in 10mm. He also carried a Sig Sauer P226 in 9mm that he did not use.

(The shooter brought a Izhmash Saiga-12, 12 gauge semi-automatic shotgun to the school but left it in his car. A police officer put the shotgun into the trunk of the car for security purposes following the shooting. This has resulted in Internet conspiracy theories that the shotgun, not the rifle, was used in the shooting. These theories are unfounded. All the shell casing found at the murder scene are .556 rifle ammunition or from the suicide shot from the Glock.)

Lanza was 20 years old, so he was not allowed to possess handguns under federal law, which he disregarded that day. Mrs. Lanza had a legal handgun permit.

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