Gene Healy on Newtown: The Moral Panic That Wasn't


One year ago, in the wake of the horrific school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., the Obama White House released its agenda for "protect[ing] our children and communities by reducing gun violence." It was a report marked by a tone of grim urgency from its title onward: "Now Is the Time" to tighten background checks for guns, ban "military-style assault weapons," and fortify our schools. But a year later, notes Gene Healy, Newtown's legislative legacy is far less dramatic than it might have been.
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