米史上最悪の学校乱射事件から１０年 娘失った母親の歩み

【ニュータウンＡＦＰ＝時事】ジェニー・ハバードさん（５０）は、米国史上最悪の学校銃乱射事件で６歳の娘を失ってからもう１０年が経過したことを信じられずにいる。（写真は銃乱射事件で亡くなったキャサリン・バイオレット・ハバードさん）
　２０１２年１２月１４日、コネティカット州ニュータウンのサンディフック小学校で起きた事件では、アダム・ランザ容疑者がブッシュマスター製ライフル「ＡＲ－１５」と拳銃２丁を５分間にわたり乱射し、児童２０人と大人６人が死亡。ハバードさんの娘のキャサリンさんもそのうちの一人だった。
　世界を震撼（しんかん）させたこの事件を受け、米国内の学校は警備体制を強化。銃規制強化を求める声が再び高まったが、規制をめぐる論争は１０年たった現在も続いている。
　１４日に事件から１０年となるのに合わせＡＦＰの取材に応じたハバードさんは「時間があっという間に過ぎ去っていくものだと思い知らされる。私の人生は完全に変わってしまったため、あの日から今まで本当に長い時間がたったように感じると同時に、きのうのことのようにも思える」と吐露した。
　クリスマスを目前に控えた事件当日の朝、ハバードさんはキャサリンさんと８歳の息子を通学バスに乗せた。「冬休みを前に、子どもたちは大はしゃぎしていた。振り返ってみると、あわただしく混乱した朝だったけれど、私たちが一緒に過ごした最高の朝の一つだった」
　ハバードさんは時間をかけてゆっくりと、人の優しさを受け止め、信仰心を持つことで心を癒やすことができた。「最初の一歩はベッドから起き上がることで、それは息子のためだった。息子には自分の人生を生きる権利があるのだから、私は起きなければいけなかった。それから毎日、一歩ずつ進んでいった」
　特につらい気持ちになるのは、毎年最初の登校日や、同じような銃乱射事件が起きたときだという。今年５月、テキサス州ユバルディのロブ小学校で児童１９人と教師２人が殺害された事件も、そのうちの一つだった。

■「６年間の思い出を胸に」

　ユバルディの事件を受け、政府はようやく全国規模の銃規制を強化。銃購入時の身元確認を厳格化し、危険人物の手に銃が渡らないようにする措置を拡大する法案が、議会を通過した。
　だが、２００４年に失効した、大容量の弾倉を搭載した殺傷力の高いライフルを禁止する法律は、合衆国憲法で定められている銃所有の権利擁護を掲げる共和党が反対し、再導入には至っていない。
　ジョー・バイデン大統領は１４日、米国にはサンディフック小学校で起きたような銃乱射事件の再発を防ぐ法律を制定・施行する「道徳的義務がある」と強調。「サンディフックで使われたようなアサルト武器や大容量弾倉を禁止する決意だ」と表明した。
　ハバードさんは、動物が大好きだった娘の名を冠した動物保護施設「キャサリン・バイオレット・ハバード・アニマル・サンクチュアリ」を地元に開設した。
　時折、娘が生きていたらどんな１６歳の女の子になっていたのかという思いが頭をよぎるが、それは考えないようにしている。娘の成長した姿を見られない理由は「決して」理解できそうにないが、「娘と過ごした６年間の思い出を胸に刻んでいる」という。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/12/15-12:53）

Jenny Hubbard struggles to believe that 10 years have passed since her six-year-old daughter's murder at Sandy Hook Elementary during the deadliest mass shooting against schoolchildren in US history.
Catherine Violet Hubbard was among 20 children and six adults gunned down by Adam Lanza in the five-minute killing spree in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14, 2012.
The massacre shocked America and the world, sparked heightened security measures at schools, and renewed a contentious fight for gun control laws that continues a decade later.
It's a reminder that time is so fleeting, Hubbard, 50, says of Wednesday's anniversary, which, like every year, will be marked with quiet reflection in the town of just 27,000 people.
It's been a lifetime because from that day to now, my life is totally different, and yet at the same time it was like it was yesterday, she tells AFP.
Hubbard remembers Catherine and her eight-year-old son's excitement as she put them on the school bus that morning, with Christmas just around the corner.
They were over the moon for the holidays. It was one of those mornings where I look back on, and I think it was rushed and chaotic, but it was also one of the best mornings that we had, she recalls.
At 9:30 am (1430 GMT), 20-year-old Lanza entered the school armed with a Bushmaster AR-15 assault rifle and two pistols after shooting dead his mother at home.
The phone call came in that something had happened, and the rest of the day was just a long fog of knowing that something terrible had happened but not understanding the magnitude of what that was, says Hubbard.
- 'The unthinkable loss'-
Lanza fired more than 150 times in the corridors and classrooms, killing 20 six-and-seven-year-olds, and six women who worked at the school, before committing suicide.
At a nearby firehouse, where authorities had taken children to be picked up by their parents, Hubbard learned that Catherine had died.
Most people were just frozen. (It was) the unthinkable loss, she says.
Slowly, over time, Hubbard says she has been able to heal, thanks to accepting the kindness of others and religious faith.
The first step was just getting out of bed, and that was because of my son. I had to get up because he had a right to live his life. Then every single day, there was just one more step that I would take, she says.
Difficult days include the first school day of every year and when other mass shootings occur, like at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in May when 19 children and two teachers were killed.
I know that the journey that the families are about to take is not easy, and it's lonely, and it's dark at times, says Hubbard.
Following Sandy Hook, described by Barack Obama as the worst day of his presidency, schools reinforced doors and windows, upped teaching children how to respond to an active shooter, and boosted staff training on how to barricade classrooms.
But tougher national restrictions on guns did not follow until after Uvalde, when Congress passed legislation that expanded background checks and reinforced measures to get firearms out of the hands of potentially dangerous people.
A stricter law that expired in 2004, banning military-style rifles with large capacity magazines, remains elusive amid opposition from Republicans who cite the constitutional right to gun ownership.
We have a moral obligation to pass and enforce laws that can prevent these things from happening again, President Joe Biden said Wednesday.
I am determined to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines like those used at Sandy Hook, he added.
- A gentle animal lover -
A circular memorial pool honoring the Sandy Hook victims opened near the school last month. Single white roses rested on each name this week.
Nearby, sits the 34-acre Catherine Violet Hubbard Animal Sanctuary that Hubbard founded in honor of her daughter, who loved animals.
Hubbard remembers Catherine as fiercely determined, gentle and compassionate.
Sometimes, she finds herself wanting to know what 16-year-old Catherine would be like, but tries to stop herself.
I will never understand why that's not possible in my life, but I carry with me the six years that she shared with me and the memories, Hubbard says.