Newtown Lawyers Open Up Offices and Hearts for Grieving Residents

Newtown, Conn., lawyers said they will willingly help families of victims of the Newtown massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School on a pro bono basis. But they doubt that any requests for help will be coming right away.

"It's so early ... people are just getting through these funerals right now," attorney Ron Bellenot, whose practice focuses on criminal and civil litigation and foreclosures, said two weeks ago. "They're just trying to get through this week. There still are more funerals to come," he said, just as a procession moved past his office at 280 Main Street.

Bellenot guesses that the first requests for pro bono assistance could be for probate work or help with insurance- or medical-related claims. "If someone needs us pro bono, we will help them," he said.

Bellenot said his office has offered sympathy and condolences to many people in the community. He added that the law firm's door is open to anyone who needs anything. "We are willing to help anyone," he said. "We put it out there, we are willing to help. We sent out a note to everyone we know."

Lawyers from all over the country have been calling and contacting his office out of the blue, seeking a Newtown contact who might offer advice as to how they can help victims' families. Bellenot recalled one family lawyer in Seattle who wanted to know the best way to go about donating to help the victims' families.

The outpouring of kindness toward Newtown from all corners of the earth has been uplifting, he said. "It looks like the good in the world overshadows the bad, a million to one," Bellenot said.

Newtown attorney and Selectman Will Rodgers noted that Newtown is a small town, and that all the lawyers practicing there know people affected by the tragedy. He said, sadly, that Joy Previdi, a Newtown lawyer, lost a grandchild in the massacre.

Rodgers and two other lawyers -- one who lives in Newtown but practices in Bridgeport, and another who lives in Newtown but practices in Danbury -- are lending their legal expertise to charitable organizations that are sprouting up to funnel money to the elementary school and to the families of the victims. "You can't just start up a foundation" as a layman, without legal advice, he said. Some expertise in law and accounting is necessary.

Rodgers said that the local bar might not have all the expertise needed to handle matters evolving from the shooting. He noted that celebrities -- many of A-list quality -- and sports leagues are "lining up to help Newtown in some way."

"We will need an entertainment lawyer. We are hoping to get one to volunteer," Rodgers said.

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Some Gun Retailers Make Changes After Newtown Shootings

Dick’s Sporting Goods, a chain with more than 500 stores, said in a statement that “during this time of national mourning” it was stopping gun sales, and withdrawing them from display, at its store closest to Newtown. The company said it was also temporarily ceasing sales of modern sporting rifles nationwide.

 And Walmart.com removed its information page on the Bushmaster .223, a semiautomatic rifle said to be used by the gunman, Adam Lanza, in the Newtown killings.

Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer, said it removed the information page on Bushmaster “in light of the tragic events.” However, it said it had made no changes to its sales policies on guns and ammunition.

 A spokesman for Wal-Mart, David Tovar, said that the company remained “dedicated to the safe and responsible sale of firearms in areas of the country where they are sold,” and that the company “had not made any changes to the assortment of guns we sell in select stores.”

Walmart had recently been increasing its emphasis on gun sales, after a five-year period where it had backed away from them.

In 2006, the company stopped selling guns in most of its American stores, saying there was little customer demand for the items.

 But in 2011, it reversed that decision, saying it wanted to appeal to hunting enthusiasts, and began selling guns at more than half of its stores.

Mr. Tovar said that the company was a member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns. As part of that, the company takes video recordings of gun sales, conducts background checks on employees selling guns and takes other steps to help keep guns away from criminals.

 Still, Jared Lee Loughner, who shot Representative Gabrielle Giffords and other Arizona residents last year, bought ammunition for a Glock gun at a Walmart the morning of the shooting.

Walmart.com’s removal of the Bushmaster .223 information page was first reported by The Nation.

A spokesman for Cabela’s, another large chain that sells guns, did not immediately return requests for comment on Tuesday. An information page at Cabela’s featured the Bushmaster .223 on Tuesday.

Bass Pro Shops’ site showed information about other guns on Tuesday but no Bushmaster-brand guns; last month, though, it offered a Black Friday special on a Bushmaster M4 Patrolman for $949.99. A spokesman said in an e-mail that the company had made no changes to its Web site.  

A Dick’s Sporting Goods spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment on Tuesday.