Gun Control Debate Heating up in Statehouses As President Barack Obama urges tighter federal gun laws, state legislators around the country have responded to the Connecticut school shooting with a flurry of their own ideas that are likely to produce fights over gun control in their upcoming sessions. There is momentum in two strongly Democratic states to tighten already-strict gun laws, while some Republicans in four other states want to make it easier for teachers to have weapons in schools. One Republican governor, however, used his power this week to block the loosening of restrictions. The question is whether public outrage after the slayings of 20 children and six adults at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., will produce a meaningful difference in the rules for how Americans buy and use guns. Or will emotions and grassroots energy subside without action? "I've been doing this for 17 years, and I've never seen something like this in terms of response," said Brian Malte, spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, based in Washington, D.C. "The whole dynamic depends on whether the American public and people in certain states have had enough. No matter if it's Congress or in the states, their voices will be heard. That's what will make the difference. Kerin Sovern, center, who is from Sandy Hook, Connecticut, but now lives in San Diego, attends a candlelight vigil honoring victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut at Balboa Park Thursday Dec. 20, 2012 with her parents Maureen and Michael Sovern who are visiting her from Sandy Hook. (AP Photo/U-T San Diego, Bill Wechter Close The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism released a report Thursday showing that the school shooting in Connecticut has led to more discussion about gun policy on social media than previous rampages. The report says users advocating for gun control were more numerous than those defending current gun laws. The National Rifle Association, a powerful organization that has successfully lobbied for expanded gun rights, has remained largely silent since the shootings, aside from a brief statement mourning the victims and promising that the group "is prepared to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again." A spokesman did not respond to a request for comment this week. NRA leaders planned to hold a news conference Friday. Some of the legislative proposals reflect renewed conviction in the long-held beliefs of lawmakers. Legislators, mostly Democrats, in California and New York plan a push to tighten what are already some of the most stringent state gun-control laws. Many Democrats in presidential swing states are pushing for tighter restrictions, while others take a wait-and-see approach. Meanwhile, rank-and-file Republicans in Oklahoma, Tennessee, South Carolina and Florida have called for making it easier for teachers and other adults to have weapons in schools. Other proposals predate the Newtown massacre. Lawmakers in the GOP-led states of Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina and Pennsylvania had been considering before the shootings loosening restrictions on employees having guns in their vehicles on work property. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, a Republican, offered Thursday what appears to be a growing theme among GOP leaders: that the shooting should prompt discussions about mental health treatment, not anti-gun laws. Anybody can get a gun, and when bad people get guns, they're going to do what they want to do. No amount of gun control can stop someone from getting a gun when they want to get it," she said. What we can do is control mental health in a way we treat people who don't know how to treat themselves.