Americans prepare for possible gun control measures

As the door to an American debate about gun control opens following the Connecticut school massacre, many gun owners are apprehensive about possible new federal weapons restrictions.

At the Blue Ridge Arsenal in Virginia business was brisk on Tuesday as many hoped to beat any bans.

“Well people are thinking there is going to be an assault ban, number one, and also they are afraid. Number two, they want to learn how to protect themselves, they want to also learn the sport.  There have been people on the fence, this puts people over the fence about learning how to protect themselves,” Blue Ridge Arsenal owner Earl Curtis said.

The shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., left 28 people dead, including 20 young children.

Lanza carried hundreds of rounds of ammunition in extra clips, shooting his victims repeatedly, one of them 11 times.  He shot his mother before driving to the school, where he killed 26 in the shooting rampage, before he took his own life.

President Barack Obama called for action at a Sunday night prayer vigil in Newtown, and Democratic lawmakers have sought a new push for U.S. gun restrictions, including a ban on assault weapons such as the Bushmaster AR-15-style assault rifle Lanza used.

Gun Owners of America’s communications director Erich Pratt said new restrictions were not the answer, and that the outcome of the shooting would have been different if teachers were armed.

“We think that those that are the potential victims, they need to be the first responders to be able to stop the bad guys,” he said.

“Criminals will, or the criminally-minded, will go after soft targets. They go after places where they are going to be the only one with a gun.  They don’t go after police stations or gun stores or gun shows, no.  They pick places like schools where guns are banned, they are the only ones with a gun and we’ve made mandatory victims out of all these teachers and children.”

In Virginia, Dave Hollister, who purchased an AR-15-style gun on Tuesday, said mental health was the issue.

“My opinion is that’s a natural knee-jerk reaction.  We had an assault weapon ban in the past, that law expired. It expired for a reason — it served no purpose,” he said. “I think the answer is more trying to understand better the risk of mental health, shortfalls in funding in that area.  So, I don’t support a gun ban,”

The NRA, which had been silent since the shooting, issued a statement on Tuesday saying it had not commented out of respect for the families and to allow time for mourning and an investigation.

“The NRA is prepared to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again,” it said.

U.S. private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management announced it was selling its investment in gunmaker Freedom Group following pressure from a major investor, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), which said on Monday it was reviewing its investment with Cerberus.

CalSTRS, the second largest pension fund in the United States, had invested $751.4 million with Cerberus by the end of March 2012, according to its website. Cerberus bought firearms maker Bushmaster in 2006 and later merged it with other gun companies to create Freedom Group.

U.S. lawmakers have not approved a major new federal gun law since 1994, and a ban on assault weapons expired in 2004.

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