Connecticut school shooting: National Rifle Association breaks its silence Its leadership considers the right to own firearms an essential American freedom, spelled out in the Second Amendment of the US Constitution and reinforced in a 2008 decision by the US Supreme Court. After the killing spree in Connecticut, the NRA has come under enormous pressure, some of it from pro-gun lawmakers allied with the association, including West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat and lifetime NRA member. The NRA's statement was met with immediate scepticism from some advocates for gun control. "We'll see," said Mark Glaze, director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a group of 750 US mayors co-led by New York City's Michael Bloomberg. Josh Sugarmann, executive director of the Violence Policy Center, said that "unless this is a dramatic sea change in the way the NRA has done business, I have very little faith anything they will offer will help us take steps forward." The percentage of Americans favouring tough gun regulations rose significantly after the massacre, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed on Monday. The poll found that 50 per cent of those surveyed after Friday's shootings agreed that "gun ownership should have strong regulations or restrictions." Among those surveyed before the killings the number was 42 per cent.