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Connecticut governor to get report on stopping school shootings

By Richard Weizel HARTFORD, Conn. (Reuters) - The Connecticut panel charged by Governor Dannel Malloy with finding ways to reduce school violence after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre is set to present its final recommendations to the governor on Friday. The Sandy Hook Advisory Commission Report includes calls for tougher gun laws, changes to school designs and improved mental health screening and care for troubled students. The 16-member commission voted unanimously last month to approve the 256-page report, which recommends schools have doors that lock from the inside and calls for trigger locks to be placed on all firearms when sold. The commission was established after Adam Lanza, 20, killed 26 children and educators at the elementary school in one of the most horrific school shootings in U.S. history. It will be up to Malloy and the state legislature whether to act on any of the recommendations. "The further away we get from Dec. 14, 2012, the more apparent it is to me that the entire country was shaken to its core by the tragic events that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School," Malloy said in a statement included in the report. "Rather than losing its impact, or immediacy over time, the desire for changing polices and our laws to prevent another incident like this one increases on a daily basis." The report includes a dozen recommendations for improving school safety, 30 more to reduce gun violence and more than 50 proposals to improve mental healthcare across the state. The report notes that the gun used by Lanza in his attack was legally purchased by his mother, Nancy Lanza, whom he shot and killed at their home before his rampage. Lanza ended his attack by fatally shooting himself. Commission member Harold Schwartz, professor of psychiatry of the University of Connecticut, acknowledged it will be up to the governor and state legislature to act on the recommendations and "make the work we have done meaningful." (Editing by Scott Malone and Bill Trot)