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[18 December 2012] - Twenty-six people, including 20 children, were killed in a primary school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, United States last week. Officials say the killer, who was an ex-student of Sandy Hook Elementary School where the events took place, used a semi-automatic rifle as his main weapon and was armed with hundreds of rounds of ammunition. He was also carrying two handguns, and a shotgun was found in a car. The weapons were allegedly registered in his mother’s name. The events that took place at Sandy Hook are the latest in a series of spree shootings in recent years, with several taking place at educational institutions, and has reignited the debate over the country’s gun laws, with supporters of reform calling for tighter controls. “The right to bear arms” The Second Amendment of the US Constitution protects “the right of the people to keep and bear arms” - a right which was adopted in 1791. A federal ban on certain semi-automatic rifles took effect in 1994, but expired in 2004. While some are now advocating for a new prohibition on all firearms in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre, others fear this would go too far, and instead say that assault weapons should again be banned. The purpose of the 1994 bill was “to get weapons of war off the streets”, said Senator Dianne Feinstein, who will reintroduce the bill in January congressional session. While there is a law - the Brady Act - requiring background checks on firearm buyers to flag up if they have a criminal record or a history of mental health problems, 40 per cent of gun sales take place informally between private individuals, at gun show stands and through the internet, meaning such regulation is not comprehensive. Gun violence in the US According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), the United States has the highest rates of firearm-related deaths among industrialised countries, including homicide, suicide and unintentional deaths. Young people are often the victims, with gun violence accounting for over 3,000 deaths and over 15,000 injuries each year among children. And the rate of firearm-related homicides for US children younger than 15 is nearly 16 times greater than the rates in 25 other industrialised countries combined. While noting that gun violence is a product of many issues in our society requiring a complex set of measures to tackle it, the AACAP emphasises that "the most effective measure to prevent firearm-related deaths and injuries to children and adolescents is the elimination of guns from homes and communities." According to the Small Arms Survey, there were 88.8 firearms for every 100 Americans in 2007. It ranks first in the world for gun ownership. Out of the mass murders carried out in the US since 1982, a study found that three quarters of the 139 firearms used by the killers were held legally. Of these, over 60 were semi-automatic handguns and more than 30 were assault weapons. There have been 13 such gun violence attacks in 2012 alone, including three at schools. Roseanna Ander, executive director of the University of Chicago Crime Lab, said the US is an outlier in lethal violence between developed countries, because given that so much American violence includes guns, the rate of death is much higher. Out of 12,664 murder victims in 2011 in the US, 8,583 were killed by firearms, according to FBI data. Another report, this time by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, found that the US has 3.2 firearms homicides per 100,000 population compared with 0.1 for England and Wales, where owning firearms, including handguns, was banned in the aftermath of the 1996 primary school shooting in Dunblane, in which 16 children were killed. Addressing the problem In the wake of the Sandy Hook events, President Barack Obama addressed Newtown locals on Sunday to say that “these tragedies must end. We must change. In the coming weeks, I will use whatever power this office holds to engage my fellow citizens, ... in an effort aimed at preventing more tragedies like this. Because what choice do we have? We can't accept events like this as routine.” Despite not elaborating on what specific steps the White House intends to take, Obama indicated with these words that he may attempt to move gun-control measures. There have been four mass shootings so far during Barack Obama’s presidency. A gun control petition posted on the White House website has collected more than 170,000 signatures since it was posted on Friday, which makes it the most popular issue on the site since the White House "We The People" website initiative launched last year. Petitions with over 25,000 signatures require an official response.