1927 School Bombing Resurfaces In Wake Of Sandy Hook Shooting Aftermath

Last weeks massacre in Newtown, Conn., which claimed the lives of 20 students and six adults, has registered as one of the worst mass shootings in American history.

Forever etched into the minds of men, women and children around the United States, the tragedy took place when a deranged gunman entered Sandy Hook Elementary School. The act has sparked mass mourning, outrage and debate worldwide.

But while the tragic event has gone down as one of America’s worst school shootings, the country has unfortunately seen comparable massacres with even higher body counts.

On May 18, 1927, three bombs went off at the Bath Consolidated School in Bath Township, Mich.. The explosion claimed the lives of 38 elementary school students, two teachers and four other adults. At least 58 other people were injured.

Reports from the incident, now known as the Bath School Disaster, indicate that most of the victims were children in the second to sixth grades (7–14 years of age).

As the investigation into the Bath School Disaster moved forward, it was revealed that the bomber was the school board treasurer Andrew Kehoe.

Kehoe, 55, reportedly spent months placing explosives inside the school as well as rigging his car and his house with explosives and shrapnel.

Once Kehoe blew up his own house, he used a detonator to blow up part of the school. He then blew up the truck, killing himself and several other including a child who survived the first blast.

Investigators later found more than 500 pounds of unexploded dynamite under the school. Kehoe had intended to kill hundreds of people, mostly students, but his wiring was faulty.

When comparing the Bath School disaster and the Sandy Hook shootings, the two are similar in several facets.

Before Kehoe enacted his plan to blow up the school he attacked and killed his wife. Police believe that Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza killed also attacked a loved one, his mother, before he went on his rampage.

Comparisons can also be made in the heroics that took place in both incidents.

Reports from the Bath School disaster indicate that School Superintendent Emory Huyck performed heroically, rescuing children and adults from the disaster scene.

After about 30 minutes, Kehoe reportedly drove up to Huyck and motioned him over to his truck before setting off a blast that killed them both and several others.

According to an eyewitness from the Sandy Hook Shooting, school principal Dawn Hochsprung was in a meeting regarding a student at the time of the shooting. When shots rang out, the witness said the principal ran toward the gunfire in an effort to stop Lanza, but was fatally shot.

The most recent, combined with outrage leftover from the Aurora shootings, which took place earlier this year, has increased the awareness for stricter laws on gun control.

While it has not even been a week since Sandy Hook, several lawmakers have promised to introduce or reintroduce gun control legislation, ranging from a reinstatement of a federal ban on assault weapons to banning the sale of high-capacity magazines.

But as the debate is nothing new among American citizens, there are some who will always remains skeptical as to the effect it will have on violence in our country.

"You can make as many laws as you want it will NOT change people who want to hurt others,” reader Steve Lahey commented on CNN.com.