Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D) said the “absolutely staggering” amount of weapons found in Sandy Hook killer Adam Lanza’s home is reason enough for sweeping nationwide gun control.
Search warrants on the home Lanza shared with his mother, Nancy, were unsealed today, and details a “Savage Mark II” .22 caliber rifle found at the home along with hundreds of rounds of miscellaneous types of ammunition and several knives. Reports varied about one to three more guns, including a BB-gun, being found at the home.
Lanza reportedly had a Bushmaster XM15-E2S semiautomatic rifle and two semiautomatic handguns at the crime scene, and a 12-gauge shotgun in his car.
The warrant also describes various notes and journals, books on autism, NRA certificates for both Nancy and Adam Lanza, and a holiday card containing a check made to Adam by his mother “for the purchase of a C183.” The murders happened 11 days before Christmas.
The National Rifle Association said there’s no record of any “member relationship” with Lanza and his mother, and “reporting to the contrary is reckless, false and defamatory.”
The unsealing of the warrant coincided with a gun-control event at the White House, and spurred statements from lawmakers such as Blumenthal who are trying to keep the waning gun-control push alive.
“The sheer volume of ammunition, guns and weapons revealed and retrieved in these searches is absolutely staggering and should provide strong evidence for the urgency and importance of common sense gun safety measures. The apparent easy access to this huge trove of arms and ammunition by a clearly disturbed and deranged individual shows the need for a comprehensive strategy to stop gun violence,” Blumenthal said.
“This means background checks for both gun and ammunition purchases, as well as a ban on high capacity magazines containing more than ten rounds of ammunition—sensible measures most Americans support,” he said.
The senator added he’s going “use this evidence” in April’s gun debate in the upper chamber.
“My hope is that it will also help lead to action in our state legislature so that Connecticut can be a model for the nation,” Blumenthal said.
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