Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting conspiracy theories

The circumstances surrounding the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting have been doubted or disputed by a number of people, leading to several conspiracy theories. On December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza fatally shot his mother, then 20 students and 6 staff members at the elementary school before committing suicide, but conspiracy theorists question the circumstances of the shooting, whether Adam Lanza was the sole perpetrator, and are using early media reports that included inconsistencies about the identity of the shooter, wrong photos, incorrect location of victims, and weapons used as evidence for their claims. Others have suggested the shooting was orchestrated by government officials for political reasons, similar to some 9/11 conspiracy theories, claiming that the shooting was deliberately set up to push stricter gun control laws.

These conspiracy theories have been described by mainstream news sources as contradictory, implausible, without evidence, and offensive to those affected. Several sources also published articles debunking various claims put forward by conspiracy theorists.

Some conspiracy theories have alleged that the shooting was a hoax and a false flag operation staged by the United States government. Others claim the attack is being used by politicians to push through new gun control legislation, or to otherwise persecute gun owners and survivalists.

Lawyer and dentist Orly Taitz—best known for her promotion of Barack Obama citizenship ("birther") conspiracy theories—was quoted as asking "Was Adam Lanza drugged and hypnotised by his handlers to make him into a killing machine as an excuse as the regime is itching to take all means of self defense from the populace before the economic collapse?"

Talk show host Clyde Lewis wrote: "Don’t you find it at all interesting that Adam Lanza, the alleged shooter at Sandy Hook, woke up one day and decided to shoot up a school and kill children at about the same time that Barack Obama told the U.N. that he would sign the small arms treaty?"

According to Live Science, "No one, regardless of what side of the gun control issue they are on, can deny that guns played a key role in the Sandy Hook killings. So the conspiracy theorists must instead challenge the claim that the attack even occurred. They believe it's all a hoax to scare people into supporting more gun control and a step toward an outright repeal of the Second Amendment." They also found that the vast majority of evidence used by conspiracy theorists to support the concept that Sandy Hook was a hoax is contradictory. Snopes.com also debunked several claims of alleged United States government involvement in the shootings.

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