WASHINGTON — Even as it mourns the victims of last week’s shooting rampage at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., including 20 children, the nation remains deeply divided on how to prevent another mass shooting.

In the aftermath of the shooting, more than 197,000 people signed a petition on the White House’s “We the People” website, calling on President Barack Obama to promote gun control legislation. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., announced plans to introduce legislation banning assault weapons and large-capacity magazines on the first day of the new Congress.

But on Friday, National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre maintained that guns are not the problem, saying that the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. He called for Congress to fund armed guards in every school in America.

“The truth is that our society is populated by an unknown number of genuine monsters, people that are so deranged, so evil, so possessed by voices and driven by demons, that no sane person can ever possibly comprehend them,” he said. “How many more copycats are waiting in the wings for their moment of fame from a national media machine that rewards them with wall-to-wall attention and a sense of identity that they crave, while provoking others to try to make their mark?”

The tragedy in Newtown, in which 20-year-old Adam Lanza reportedly used a Bushmaster .223-caliber rifle to kill 20 children and six adult staff members as well as his mother, happened only days after a shooting at the Clackamas Town Center mall. In the Oregon shooting, 22-year-old Jacob Tyler Roberts allegedly used an AR-15 rifle to kill two and wound another. Both shooters killed themselves before they could be apprehended.

Mental illness

For Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the possibility that mental illness may have played a role in the shootings hit close to home, as his late brother, Jeff, suffered from mental illness.

“My family and I were constantly aware of the potential for violence, both against himself and others that his condition presented,” Wyden said this week. The country needs a comprehensive way to identify, diagnose, treat and assist the mentally ill, he said. Additionally, support must be available for family members, friends, teachers and others, “including gun sellers and range owners,” who may sense something is amiss and that an individual might need professional help, he said.

Wyden said he supports enacting policies that keep military-style assault rifles out of the hands of individuals who would commit these types of crimes.

“In addition, Congress should decide whether the most dangerous types of weapons and ammunition should be held to higher ownership, licensing and security standards than other firearms,” he said.

As with other issues, there must be a balance between rights and responsibilities, he said. Gun owners have a responsibility to secure and prevent the illegal use of their firearms, and should work within a system that has safeguards in place to keep guns away from dangerous individuals, he said.

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., said the shootings raise questions “about what kind of weapons and ammunition are available, how they are acquired, the standards we ought to have in place for buying guns and how to make sure those standards are met.”

Merkley also said the country needs to improve the way it treats the mentally ill.

“I have heard way too many stories about families terrified for the safety of a mentally ill family member, for their own safety, or for the safety of others who might be in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he said. “We can’t say we’re honestly doing the most we can to protect our communities when we use jails as the de facto mental health system.”

Underlying issues

Rep. Greg Walden, R-Hood River, said that while he is open to a conversation about reinstating the 1994 ban on assault weapons that lapsed in 2004, he thinks congressional action may not be the answer.

“Solutions will come primarily from within families, communities and states,” he said. “Our first focus should be on the underlying issues that cause these acts, especially mental illness.”

Walden said that as a state legislator, he supported measures that protected citizens by making it illegal for the mentally ill and criminals to own guns.

Asked what, if any, legislative action Congress should take, Walden said he would listen to the recommendations made by the panel convened by President Obama and overseen by Vice President Joe Biden. Obama instructed the group to make policy recommendations in January.

“In the coming days and weeks, many proposals regarding gun violence will be introduced,” Walden said. “I expect Congress will look at all factors in an effort to find solutions, including mental health and the portrayal of extreme violence in video games and movies.”

The NRA’s LaPierre echoed Walden’s reference to violent video games on Friday, saying the media was doing its best to conceal this “dirty little secret.”

“There exists in this country, sadly, a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells and stows violence against its own people,” he said.

Grades A to F

In the letter-grade evaluations of lawmakers handed out by the NRA, Walden earned an A, while Wyden and Merkley both earned an F.

According to the nonprofit, nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation, which promotes greater transparency in government, 51 percent of the members of the incoming Congress have accepted contributions from the NRA’s political action committee at some point in their political careers. The NRA’s political action committee contributed to the most recent race of 47 percent of members, according to the Sunlight Foundation’s analysis.

Walden received $3,000 during the 2012 campaign, and $35,250 over his career. Going back to 1990, the NRA has not contributed to either Wyden or Merkley’s campaigns, according to the Sunlight Foundation.

The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence ranked Oregon 18th in the nation for its gun control laws. While state law requires unlicensed sellers to conduct background checks at gun shows and creates a voluntary process for unlicensed sellers to request the state police to do a criminal background check, the Center notes that Oregon does not prohibit possession of assault weapons, .50-caliber rifles or high-capacity magazines; limit the number of guns that can be bought at one time; or impose a waiting period during gun sales.

Nearly two in five Oregonians, or 39.8 percent, live in a household with at least one gun, according to a 2001 survey by the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. The national average was 31.7 percent.