One year after Newtown, have your views on gun control, mental health changed?

Photo by Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images

It was one year ago today when reports came in of a shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. By the end of that day, 20 children and seven adults –including the shooter’s mother — were killed before the gunman shot himself.

That day at Sandy Hook Elementary is one that will continue to haunt our country. And the tormenting question of “why” will forever go unanswered.

Shortly after the shooting, some parents in Newtown began actively advocating for gun violence prevention. And throughout the year, extensive news coverage examined gun control, mental health and school safety.

At NewsHour, we wanted to know how the events at Sandy Hook and the year since have affected you. Have your views on gun violence and mental health changed? Do you think differently about school safety?

These are some of the responses we’ve received from Facebook and Twitter:

“Schools should be protected by armed guards. I worked in banking most of my life. The banks were protected by armed guards. Why would we do any less for the children, our most prized assets?”

-Linda Nash Gray

@NewsHour No. My right to self protection in an increasingly violent culture is a freedom needed more now than ever.

— kjcopp (@kjcopp) December 12, 2013

“If a tragedy such as Sandy Hook cannot get us to the point where we can enact common sense background checks and ending sales of weapons that have no valid purpose other than mass killing, then nothing ever will.”

-Facebook user Chris Nanoski.

@NewsHour, as a country we have an obligation, that we r not meeting, to provide better access to mental health services.

— Kacie Buzzard (@kwbuzzard) December 12, 2013

“Perhaps it has been the lack of response to the outrageous acts of gun violence, but I believe more than ever in stricter gun control. I am a gun owner by the way.”

-Facebook user Suzanne Aubrey Myers

@NewsHour gun control is not the answer

— Marquist Parker (@Marquist10) December 12, 2013

“I think this tragedy is much more complicated than the questions posed. It regards a very disturbed individual that did a very horrible thing. I think that part of the education budget should include much better school security. Other than that, I see nothing else that can help prevent this type of thing in the future.”

-Facebook user James G. Lakes

@NewsHour Depends on who you ask. Isolated from violence? Or submersed? #TwoAmericas

— Farrah Parker (@LeavUrImge2FDP) December 12, 2013

“Mental health care is not a priority as it should be.”

-Facebook users Mary Laidman

@NewsHour The issue at hand is people with mental health issues can only be helped if their families/friends admit there is a problem.

— Michele Humbert (@mbec69) December 12, 2013

“For me, the most important lesson that was finally, albeit partially, learned from the Newtown incident is that we need to identify and help youngsters who exhibit lack of social integration, whatever the cause.”

-Facebook user Pamela Royce

Saturday, Dec. 14, marks the one-year anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting, but the discussion is far from over. Weigh in with your thoughts below.

H/T Colleen Shalby