Soon after the shootings, I took a series of executive actions within my power to reduce gun violence and keep more of our kids safe.
Advertisement
The shooting prompted renewed debate about gun control in the United States, including proposals for making the background-check system universal, and for new federal and state legislation banning the sale and manufacture of certain types of semi-automatic firearms and magazines with more than ten rounds of ammunition.
“This is somebody I mourn that I never got to know and there’s a sadness in the sense of what if and loss is very deep even though I don’t know her”, said Maddy on behalf of her grandmother who was shot with a hunting rifle.
While the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre was considered as the worst involving children under the age of 12, the NBC report said the school killing was nothing compared to the 554 American kids that have died from gun-related incidents since then.
‘There’s this feeling of helplessness and hopelessness that too many people still have, ‘ Nicole Hockley, whose one-year-old son Dylan was killed in the Sandy Hook massacre, told the Huffington Post.
Also killed were school principal Dawn Hochsprung, school psychologist Mary Sherlach, teachers Victoria Soto and Lauren Rousseau, behavioral therapist Rachel Davino and school aide Anne Marie Murphy.
But officials have been unable to change gun laws at the federal level.
She said that in the years following the Sandy Hook shooting, CT has passed the second strongest gun safety reforms in the US, and six states have passed bills on background checks needed to buy guns. “We think they should absolutely have the right to be here, just like we do”. And the families of those 26 innocent people went numb.
As the conversation about gun control continues to pick up steam in the USA, especially as we come upon an election year, it’s clear that much work still needs to be done.
America, this will change – but only when we stand up, together, and demand it.
Advertisement
Hockley and other parents have watched in horror as the influx of shootings have increased and become more normalized, using the tragedies as urgency and fuel for their growing compassion and activism. “The good news is that we can prevent this”, Rosenthal said.
