Final answer:
The purpose of alluding to the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School is to highlight a tragic event and its societal impact, providing context for historical study and understanding changes in safety, legislation, and mental health awareness that followed.
Step-by-step explanation:
The purpose of alluding to the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in historical texts serves to highlight a tragic event in history, while also allowing readers to understand the societal impact of such events. This event has been instrumental in ongoing debates about gun control, security in schools, and mental health issues. By examining the immediate and long-term circumstances of this tragic event, historians and students alike engage in a deeper exploration of causation and societal influence. References to Sandy Hook not only pay respects to the victims but also chart a historical narrative that includes the need for safety measures, legislation, and mental health awareness.
Highlighting the tragedy at Sandy Hook serves both to provide historical context and to understand how society has reacted and changed in response to such events. Analyzing this event within historical studies involves looking at both historical content and the perspectives surrounding the circumstances in order to gain a more nuanced understanding.