‘Tap peoples’ emotion.’ Obama WH emails plotting strategy two days after Sandy Hook revealed

Former President Barack Obama’s education secretary and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel were planning how to turn a national tragedy into a legislative victory for the administration two days after the 2012 mass shooting in Newtown, Conn.

That’s according to emails obtained under a Freedom of Information request from a reporter from the Baltimore Post.
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On the morning of Dec. 14, 2012, a 20-year-old man killed his mother in their home then traveled to Sandy Hook Elementary School — a semi-automatic rifle and two pistols in tow. He broke into the school and killed another 26 people — 20 of them first-grade students. The gunman committed suicide after authorities arrived on the scene.

Two days later, on the evening of Dec. 16, former-Education Secretary Arne Duncan emailed Emanuel under the subject line, “CT shootings,” seeking advice on pushing gun reform legislation, according to The Baltimore Post.

The complete exchange took place between 6:57 p.m. to 7:08 p.m. It follows as first reported by The Baltimore Post:

Duncan: “What are your thoughts?”

Emanuel: “Go for a vote this week before it fades. Tap peoples’ emotion. Make it simple assault weapons.”

Duncan: “Yup- thanks.”

Emanuel: “When I did Brady bill and assault weapons for Clinton, we always made it simple. Criminals or war weapons.”

Duncan: “Gun show loophole? Database? Cop-killer bullets? Too complicated?”

Emanuel: “Cop killer maybe. The other no.”

Duncan: “Got it.”

At the time of the shooting, Newtown was the second most deadly mass shooting on a school campus after a 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech where 32 students and teachers were killed.

Emanuel served as an advisor to former-President Bill Clinton from 1992 to 1998. Emanuel worked with Clinton to push Congress to pass the 1993 Brady billthat imposed a five-day waiting period for purchasing a handgun. Emanuel also worked in the White House when Congress passed the 1994 federal assault weapons ban that...Read More HERE