Up in arms
Tuesday, January 28, 2014 - 08:30
in Psychology & Sociology
In December 2012, when Adam Lanza stormed into the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., with a rifle and killed 20 children and six adult staff members, the United States found itself immersed in debates about gun control. Another flash point occurred last July, when George Zimmerman, who saw himself as a guardian of his community, was exonerated in the killing of an unarmed black teenager, Trayvon Martin, in Florida. That time, talk turned to stand-your-ground laws and the proper use of deadly force. The gun debate was refreshed in September by the shooting deaths of 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard, apparently at the hands of an IT contractor who was mentally ill.