Transcripts For WMAR Nightline 20121219 : vimarsana.com

From the Global Resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden, and bill weir in new york city, this is a special edition of nightline, tragedy at sandy hook, the search for solutions. Good evening. Im bill weir. Out of all the soulcrushing images to come out of newtown, this one has a particularly devastating effect on countless folks checking their twitter and facebook feeds today. Its a letter to little jack pinto laid to rest on monday that reads, youre my best friend. We had fun together. I will miss you. I will talk to you in my prayers. I love you. Signed john. Two more 6yearolds were buried today while buses rolled and grownups grappled with how to get on with life and protect the survivors from even more nightmares. Heres abcs juju chang. Reporter the hugs were a little tighter today as parents in newtown gently guided their kids back to school, back to their daily routines, surrounded by sadness and a stepped up police presence. Getting them back to a routine is the best thing, i think. Reporter but the jittery town suffered a fresh scare as a threat shut down yet another newtown elementary school. Better safe than sorry. Reporter but for karen dreyers son logan, a sandy hook kindergartener, normal is still a long way off. She told abcs dan harris theyre still in limbo as they await word on when classes resume. They wanted to go back to school. They wanted to be with their teachers. Their teachers wanted to see them. Reporter the children, she says, are resilient but some parents were only pretending to be. Its scary, but im going to put on a brave face. Were going to march up to the door, say hello to his teacher and ill walk away and then cry. Its just all so surreal. Im sorry. I just cant its all just a nightmare. Reporter and the nightmare continues to play out at st. Rose of lima church with backtoback funerals for two 6yearolds. James mattioli loved doing yard work with his dad and cuddling up on the couch with his mom. Christa rekos says she still cant believe her daughter jessica, who loved horses and was about the get cowgirl boots for christmas, isnt coming home. Mourners at her funeral paid tribute. She was teaching her brother how to read and everything. Just a very giving child. Was just a very, very nice ceremony. Reporter 27yearold victoria soto was remembered today for her heroism, for hiding students in closets, then trying to shield them from a hail of bullets. Vicky died a hero, she was protecting her children, which she loved very much. She didnt call them her students. She called them her kids. Reporter today her fellow teachers were still looking out for their students, preparing for the eventual return to class. Moving trucks passed the memorials that lined the roads here, hauling furniture and just about Everything Else from Sandy Hook Elementary School to their new campus. Officials are working overtime here at chuck Hill Middle School in nearby monroe, connecticut. Inside, teachers and officials are working around the clock to recreate sandy hook elementary room by room with painstaking detail. Using photos taken inside the school, theyre creating a carbon copy of each classroom from what was on the walls, right down to the crayon left in the desk. Exactly as it was friday when the school day was savagely cut short. But what if creating that exact environment only triggers the trauma again . It might for some kids. It might be a bit wedge. Reporter dr. Jamie howard is a child psychologist who specializes in post traumatic stress. We do try to expose kids to triggers of the trauma because avoiding triggers or avoiding things that remind kids of trauma, and grownups, too, just serves to maintain the anxiety. Reporter theyre ripping out toilets designed for middle schoolers and installing new bathrooms better suited for grade schoolers, hoping to reopen after winter break. Why are they in such a hurry . Its really important to maintain routines as quickly as possible. Thats actually very comforting and very reassuring to kids. Reporter there are no rules on how to return a school to normal after such a heinous act. In kentucky, where three students were killed 15 years ago, Heath High School opened the very next day. This rally represents a new beginning for columbine high school. Reporter columbine took four months to reopen after 12 people were gunned down and ten were injured. They demolished the library and replaced it with a sunny atrium. After a gunman killed 32 people at virginia tech, parts of campus went through extensive renovations and gradually reopened. But sandy hook is unprecedented, because the victims were so young. They make sense of things differently. They might be more clingy. They might regress more, so they might start sucking their thumb, for example. Reporter the new campus is being outfitted with a new security system. Officials promised it will be the Safest School in america. A pledge parents the use to reassure their children and themselves. For nightline, im juju chang in newtown, connecticut. Coming up next, from selling off shares to stripping shelves, how this tragedy is changing the game, at least for now, for those who make, sell, and invest in the booming business of guns. [ male announcer ] red lobsters crabfest ends soon. Hurry in and try five succulent entrees, like our tender snow crab paired with savory garlic shrimp. Just 12. 99. Come into red lobster and sea food differently. And introducing 7 lunch choices for just 7. 99. Salads, sandwiches, and more. Impact wool exports from new zealand, textile production in spain, and the use of medical technology in the u. S. . At t. 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Many on both sides of the Second Amendment debate wonder tonight if this one is big enough to actually change the big business of guns in this country longterm. Darren rovell found some interesting early indications. Reporter at a gun store in san gabriel, california, just outside of los angeles, business was brisk today. Customers buying guns and ammunition, making sure they can get what they want now. The u. S. Firearms industry is breaking all kinds of sales records. Now more than a 30 billion business with so many different people buying guns, that its impossible to profile the typical gun owner. I need your signature. Reporter people like this stayathome mom. This is the first gun i have ever purchased. I never thought i would be purchasing one, but my husband does have one. Reporter Edgar Hernandez was just out window shopping. I came in to look for a new long gun for my collection. Reporter pete has owned this store for 30 years. Theres more and more firsttime gun buyers than i can ever remember. People who 20 years ago would have never dreamed of owning a firearm. There you go. Ready to rock n roll. Reporter in the wake of the massacre at newtown, the people willing to consider putting their hand on the trigger has risen. The media and the government are talking about more gun legislation, so therefore, theyre deciding well, perhaps i should take action now. Reporter despite the cash registers ringing, its not an easy time to be in the gun business. Walmart, the nations largest seller of guns and ammunition, has pulled their version of the bushmaster semiautomatic rifle similar to the one used in the shooting off its website. Outdoor retailer cabellas hasc used in the shooting in its one store in connecticut. While Dicks Sporting Goods is taking it a step further. Company temporarily suspending a whole category of modern sporting rifles at its more than 500 stores in 44 states nationwide. Many Public Companies are torn between showing sensitivity towards what happened in newtown and trying to make a profit. What do you feel like the responsibility is for the companies, their fiduciary responsibility versus being sensitive . The sandy hook tragedy profoundly affected a large number of americans, so i think theyre going to tread lightly and do their best to challenge both of those obligations. Their obligation to be respectful to the victims and also their desire to make as much money as possible. Reporter despite the jump in sales, investors havent felt positive about making a stake in the gun owners themselves, who continue to get pounded on wall street today. Shares of smith and wesson dropped 10 today. The stock has dropped 20 since friday morning. Another gun company, sturm ruger down nearly 18 since friday. When the california state teachers retirement system, the largest Educator Pension Fund in the realize it invested in bushmaster, the gunmans rifle brand we were frankly horrified to learn on monday morning that within our investment portfolio we owned a company, or a slice of a company that manufactured one of the weapons that were used. Reporter after the teachers threatened to pull its sizable investment altogether, that firm announced today it would sell its gun business. They are saying it was a financial decision. As a firm, we are investors, not statesmen or policymakers. Our role is to make investments on behalf of our clients. The company said in a statement. Back at the gun shop in california, pete shows off a version of the ar15 rifle he has in stock. Similar to the weapon that was used in the connecticut shootings. He is unapologetic. The Second Amendment isnt about hunting guns. It isnt about target shooting. The Second Amendment is about the power of the people to protect themselves from a government that has become oppressive. Reporter politics versus profits. How thats resolved will determine what will be sold in the future. For nightline, im Darren Rovell in new york. Another question raging these days, could a virtual shooting spree in a game like call of duty create a craving for the real thing . Well look at the science next. cause all our states are great. And now is when the gulf gets even better. The beaches and waters couldnt be more beautiful. Take a boat ride or just lay in the sun. Enjoy the wildlife and natural beauty. And dont forget our amazing seafood. So come to the gulf, youll have a great time. Especially in alabama. You mean mississippi. Thats florida. Say louisiana or theres no dessert. Brought to you by bp and all of us who call the gulf home. Excuse me, sir im gonna have to ask you to power down your little word game. I think your friends will understand. Oh no, its actually my geico app. See . I just uh paid my bill. Did you really . From the plane . Yeah, i can manage my policy, get roadside assistance, pretty much access geico 24 7. Sounds a little too good to be true sir. Ill believe that when pigs fly. Ok, did she seriously just say that . Geico. Just click away with our free mobile app. All of us here at abc news have devoted this week to hearing from you, addressing your questions, searching for solutions, as we mourn newtown as a nation. Across more than a few of our message boards, weve seen more than a few people raise concern over violent video games and the cultural effect of having so many young men living virtual lives as First Person Shooters. Tonight abc takes a look. Reporter across the country this week, americas love affair with violence is under the microscope. Two of hollywoods hottest new releases, both shoot em ups, jack reacher and django unchained cancelled premieres out of respect. Hitman led David Axelrod to tweet, shouldnt we also quit marketing murder as a game . While the adults were asking questions, americas kids went on their daily shooting spree. It is virtual violence. In this case, playing one of the most popular, profitable and most violent games, call of duty, a so called First Person Shooter, because the player t e takes on a killers point of view. But is this just good fun or is an entire generation being trained and desensitized to the act of shooting people . Thomas and steven are typical of many in their generation. Good jobs by day, obsessed with call of duty when they get home. Dr. Chris ferguson has conducted a series of multiyear studies of 11 to 18yearolds to find out what violent games do to them. His conclusion theres no evidence to suggest that exposure to violent video games is associated with violent criminal behavior. Reporter he has a name for the outcry over violent games that sometimes follows a mass shooting. He calls it moral panic. Whenever a new form of media that comes out that particularly older generations dont use and dont understand is very, very common for that new medium to be blamed for a variety of social ills. Reporter in the 1950s, it was comic books and a full Senate Hearing over the belief that they were making americas kids turn violent. What are we afraid of . Are we afraid of our own children . Do we forget that they are citizens too . And entitled to the essential freedom to read . Or do we think our children so evil, so vicious, so simple minded that it takes but a comic magazine story of murder to set them to murder. Reporter by the 1980s, it was tipper gore over the issue of suggestive rock lyrics. Were not gonna take it why do you think there is so much to sadomasochism and bondage in these songs . Ms. Gore was looking for sadomasochism and she found it. Reporter he supports this American Academy of pediatrics finding. The received is now clear and convincing. Media violence is one of the causal factors of real life violence and aggression. Kids spend an incredible amount of time with the media, seven to 11 hours a day. They see increasingly violent media. We all acknowledge that the media have an impact. Why in this country would we spend 250 billion a year on advertising if we didnt think advertising affected people. So Whose Research to believe . Who to judge . The u. S. Supreme court already has. In striking down californias attempt at a violent video game law, the court had this to say about studies linking games to violent behavior. These studies have been rejected by every court to consider them, and with good reason they do not prove that violent video games cause minors to act aggressively. Bonnie ross, a mother of two Young Children with her own concerns, also happens to run one of the most successful First Person Shooter games around halo 4. While its far more tame than the violent games many point fingers at, rosss advice is the same. What do you say to parents who say its too violent, not good for kids . What i recommend is your kids are going to play games. Play it with them so that you can really be there to answer questions and help them through that, and then you have to make a decision as a parent whats right for you. Reporter games, movies, music, comics. Easy targets amidst a moral panic. As a society, if we focus in on the wrong issue, focus in on something that is a red herring, that is not going to help anybody, that can really distract the National Conversation from serious issues. And thank you for watching abc news tonight. We do hope you check in with our friends at good morning america, bringing you the world whyo