On December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza, a twenty-year-old with Asperger's syndrome, shot his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. According to the final report of the Public Prosecutor's Office, he entered the school at 9.30 in the morning and shot the principal and the school psychologist who had gone out into the corridor to check on the loud shots they had heard. He then moved into the classrooms where innocent children were learning and started shooting and at 9:40, just ten minutes later, he took the lives of twenty-six people, including twenty children aged twelve and under and six adults before taking his own life. own life (State Report on the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting). Gun violence has been and continues to be one of the biggest problems in America. The United States has the highest rate of gun ownership in the world and consequently the highest rate of gun violence and deaths compared to other developed countries. In a study by the University of Sydney it is estimated that there are 270,000,000 to 310,000,000 firearms in the United States. According to the same study, in 2010 there were 31,672 deaths caused by firearms and the following year the number rose to 32,163. Gun homicides are high in the United States, claiming more than eleven thousand victims each year (Guns in the United States: Firearms, Armed Violence and Gun Law). According to Vision for Humanity, an initiative for Economy and Peace, the United States ranks 99th out of 162 countries in the 2013 Global Peace Index, homicide rates and violent crimes are among the various criteria used to determine the ranking (Vision of Humanity). Mass shootings in workplaces, schools, shopping malls and places of worship are happening in a...... medium of......paper notes in the United States: guns, gun violence and Gun Law." in the United States: Firearms, Gun Violence, and Gun Law. Np, nd Web. 08 May 2014. "Lee Leffingwell says polls show that 90% of Americans and 74% of members of the NRA argue criminal background checks before all gun purchases." . NP, nd Web. May 9, 2014. Peralta, Eyder. "Poll: 9 in 10 Americans support background checks for all gun sales." Davis Health System – Violence Prevention Research Program. Np, nd Web. May 9, 2014. “Shootings Costing $174 Billion Show Burden of Gun Violence.” May 9, 2014. State Report on the Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting http://www.ct.gov/csao/lib/csao/Sandy_Hook_Final_Report.pdf"Humanity's Vision". 2014.