How will Newtown shootings change the US gun debate?

         

The Connecticut school shootings have horrified America. But what impact, if any, will they have on the nation's gun laws?

Even in a nation with a roll call of gun massacres so long and familiar - Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, Jonesboro and many others - the killings at Sandy Hook Elementary have a singular capacity to shock.

Twenty children and six adults lie dead. A gunman who forced his way into the school took their lives and his own.
The tragedy has re-opened the debate over the nation's gun laws as long-term supporters of reform have issued calls for tighter controls.

After the shootings, an emotional President Barack Obama promised "meaningful action", adding: "As a country, we have been through this too many times."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20742508