William: Let's turn now to the
subject that has consumed much
of the nation this week.
.
In the past several weeks.
Gun violence.
We will hear from a number of
voices on that subject.
I'm none of us begins our look.
Reporter: Congress and the two
parties have been deadlocked in
a stalemate for years over what
measures could or should be
taken.
In a speech last night,
president Biden called for
congress to pass major bills
including a ban on assault style
weapons, expanded background
checks, age limits on purchases
and red flag laws.
In doing so, he cited some of
the cities and communities
devastated by past shootings.
Pres. Biden: After columbine,
after sandy hook, after
charlston, after Orlando, after
Las Vegas, after parkland,
nothing has been done.
This time, that can't be true.
This time, we must actually do
something.
Imagine what it's like for
children who experience this
kind of trauma every day in
school, on the streets, in
communities, all across America.
Imagine what it's like for so
many parents to hug their
children goodbye in the morning,
not sure whether they will come
back home.
Unfortunately, too many people
don't have to imagine that at
all.
>> Of course, Tulsa, Oklahoma
and you've, Texas are the latest
communities to struggle with all
of this.
In uvalde, there are five
funerals and visitations today.
Elizabeth Williamson of the new
York Times has covered the many
ways these attacks affect
communities for years afterward,
as part of the focus of her new
book called "Sandy hook: An
American tragedy and the battle
for truth."
Welcome to the newshour.
Thank you for being here.
>> Thank you.
Reporter: You talked to families
in Newtown about that sandy hook
shooting we remember.
And that moment immediately
afterward when the world is
watching and the media has
dissented, you talked about what
they felt in that moment.
What they were going through.
What did they share with you?
Elizabeth: The families I spoke
with talked about this sense of
the media onslaught feeling like
prey.
There were so many requests for
interviews, the presence of the
media even altered the landscape
of the town.
There was an influx of goods and
services and money that was very
disorienting, that people really
struggled to accommodate and
even to store.
And then of course, there was
the appearance of conspiracy
theorists, people who claim that
the shooting never occurred at
all.
And were following the families,
digging through their trash,
looking in their windows, and
generally really tormenting them
in those first weeks and months.
Amna: This one part of it really
stuck with me when you talked
about, what you call the global
spasm of heartbreak and
generosity.
Because I think we see this
again and again.
People want to help.
They send messages, they send
gifts, donations.
What did the families in sandy
hook and Newtown tell you about
how burdensome that was at the
time?
Elizabeth: I think it is a
wonderful thing about Americans,
that they open their hearts and
their wallets and they want to
send any kind of help they can.
But when you have so many people
doing that, you have this influx
of 68,000 teddy bears, enough
mail that they had to open a new
substation in the post office,
they had to get warehouse space.
For the families, while they
really appreciate it, that
upwelling, what they also
struggled with was what do we do
with all of this, and how do we
accommodate it, how do we store
it, how do we acknowledge it,
how do we use it?
And also, the money that came
in, the issue quickly arose of
who that money should go to.
It has been established that the
money should definitely go to
the families and the survivors.
Amna: Journalists get accused of
sanitizing the issue, of not
speaking more bluntly about the
brutality of some of these
attacks, particularly when you
are talking about children.
What do you hear from the
families about how they see this
argument, about whether or not
those kinds of more brutal and
graphic images should or should
not be shared?
Elizabeth: I have yet to speak
to a sandy hook family member
that would be in favor of having
those photographs released.
They are extremely painful and
traumatizing to them.
While I know, because I have
written about this, that there
are a number of people and
policymakers even who think
these would have an impact on
the debate, that they would move
our country out of its official
inertia.
But because I have looked at
disinformation around sandy hook
and around so many other major
events, I actually think these
photos could have a different
impact.
A father of the youngest sandy
hook victim said, it could just
intensify and add fuel to the
disinformation that circulates
after mass shootings.
People could produce those
photos in different contexts.
They could be mailing them or
emailing them to the families
themselves, they could be used
as an additional source of
harassment and pain.
So I think any release of that
type of material would have to
be up to the individual survivor
and family member.
And even thenl, the families
tell me, you have to consider
how the release of that material
by one family member would
impact all the others.
And that is a worry for them.
Amna: I heard this on the ground
in uvalde where people said, we
understand why you are here, but
we know that the cameras are
going to leave, the attention
will fade, and we as a community
will be left to grapple with
this.
And we have been forever
changed.
Based on what you learned from
family -- from sandy hook
families, what can you say about
what is ahead for the families
in uvalde and Tulsa and so many
other communities?
Elizabeth: What these
communities face is a river -- a
reverberating loss.
It radiates outward like fallout
from the event itself,
throughout the community.
There are impacts that people in
uvalde, just like in any other
community where this type of
violence occurs, that no one can
predict.
There will be a lot of anger,
and a lot of sadness, and a lot
of stray voltage emotionally
that really impacts how a town
pulls through.
These immediate aftermaths do
not lend themselves to
redemptive narratives.
It is not a triumphant story.
It is a long, hard, painful slog
for a community where this
happens.
And it is a very long healing
process.
Amna: That is Elizabeth
Williamson of the New York
Times, author of the new book