Connecticut school shooting: the tragedy at Sandy Hook could force Obama to act on gun control Even after the worst gun massacre at Virginia Tech University in 2007, that claimed 32 lives, the argument was more about whether or not students should be allowed to carry weapons on campus, or the rigorousness of psychological checks on gun purchasers. When Jared Loughner killed six people in an attack on congressman Gabrielle Giffords in early 2011, defenders of gun rights made the familiar argument that it was people, not weapons, who killed. During Barack Obama's presidency, the conservative-dominated Supreme Court struck down attempts by Washington DC and Chicago to ban handguns. This shooting could be different; it could produce change. The dead include large numbers of children, probably the greatest number ever to lose their lives in a gun massacre. Mr Obama does not have re-election to worry about and in a second term may feel able to introduce the sort of restrictions that he believes in but has never had the political leverage to implement. Last night he spoke of "meaningful action, regardless of the politics" to prevent further tragedies. The assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan in 1981 led to the so-called Brady Bill, named after his press secretary disabled by the attack, which instituted federal background checks on firearm purchasers. At the very least the state of Connecticut could pass tighter laws, but it is one of the easiest places to own a gun in the liberal north-east. No state permit is required for the purchase or possession of rifles or shotguns. A British woman interviewed on Friday who lives in Newtown, but whose young children attend another school, said that the only good that could possibly come out of the horror was that something will finally be done. Some Americans will be feeling the same. The question is how many.