Week in Review

This week, the nation paused to remember the lives lost five years ago at when a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook elementary school. In response to the shooting that took the lives of 20 children and 6 adults, a national movement erupted from neighborhoods across America. Parents, teachers, lawyers, doctors, law enforcement officers, and veterans turned their shock into action. Since the Sandy Hook shooting, there have been more than 210 laws enacted to strengthen gun safety in states and communities across the nation.

To mark the anniversary, Newtown Action helped coordinate 268 local vigils and events in 40 different states across the country. Sandy Hook Promise launched a new PSA called “Tomorrow’s News” showing what happens when we ignore signs exhibited by individuals who may hurt themselves or others that are often missed or not acted upon. Elected leaders – like Senator Chris Murphy, who delivered an address on the Senate Floor – reflected on the lives of those lost and the work we must do as a nation to prevent future tragedies.

  

 Watch & Retweet Senator Murphy’s Speech Marking the 5th Anniversary 

Statements from the Gun Violence Prevention Community:

•  Gabrielle Giffords and Captain Mark Kelly , Co-Founders of Giffords
•  Erika Lafferty, John Feinblatt and Shannon Watts , from Everytown and Moms Demand Action
•  The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence 
•  Sandy Hook Promise 
•  Newtown Action Alliance 
•  CT Against Gun Violence 
•  Josh Horwitz , Coalition to Stop Gun Violence
•  Jesse Lehrich , Organizing For Action

Important Stories About Sandy Hook Families and the Newtown Community:

• CBS News — Sandy Hook 5 Years Later: A mother remembers her son and works on prevention : Nicole Hockley speaks with CBS News correspondent Elaine Quijano. Nicole Hockley remembers her sweet and vibrant son – Dylan Hockley.
• The Washington Post — When just saying ‘I’m from Newtown’ can be a cross to bear : Five years into Newtown’s recovery, residents have adopted various strategies to deal with being from a place whose name has become synonymous with horrifying tragedy.
• USA Today — Sandy Hook: Families dedicate time to charity, activism 5 years after tragedy : Many relatives of the 26 children and educators killed on Dec. 14, 2012 have sought ways to find meaning in advocacy.
• NPR — A Newtown Family’s Campaign To Change How We Think About Violence : Jeremy and Hensel Richmand lost their their daughter, Avielle, in the Newtown shooting, five years ago this week. They started the Avie Foundation to research the links between mental health and violence.
• NBC Today — How the Power of 3 Words Changed This Sandy Hook Mother’s Life : In the 5 years since she lost her son, Scarlett Lewis has focused on courage and forgiveness.
• The Trace — The World Sent 65,000 Teddy Bears to Newtown. His Job Was to Keep the Gifts from Overwhelming the Town : In all, 65,000 teddy bears were sent to Newtown, a town of 27,000, after the Sandy Hook shooting. There were nine tractor-trailers full of paper snowflakes, and half a million letters.
• Vice News — A Sandy Hook Mom Describes What it’s Like Losing a Child to Gun Violence : One Fridayafternoon five years ago, Nelba Márquez-Greene sent two of her children to school in Newtown, Connecticut. She only got one back.
• Reuters — Five Years After Sandy Hook, US Gun Control Advocates Switch Strategy : Instead of pressuring lawmakers to push new gun-control measures through the U.S. Congress, volunteers from groups including Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America are now running for office themselves.
• Now This — Five Years Since Sandy Hook : Five years since the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook School, the Newtown community still continues to heal and advocate for gun safety.

  

 Watch 

• Slate Op-Ed | States’ Rights No More : The Constitution—and common sense—recognizes that different states have different cultures, traditions, and needs when it comes to guns. Concealed carry reciprocity does not. Read more from our Chief Counsel, Adam Skaggs.
• The Hill Op-Ed | On this we agree. Congress must act on gun violence : “Congress’s continued failure to act on behalf of their constituents over these many years flagrantly defies the will of the people who they purport to represent. Don’t let them get away with it for another election cycle.” — Jeanna C. Steele, Board Member of Giffords Law Center
• The Guardian | Sheryl Crow Criticizes Country Stars for Not ‘Taking a Stand’ on Gun Control : Crow, who is releasing a song dedicated to Newtown victims, says country musicians are afraid of speaking about gun laws and losing their audience.

• New Poll: One Third of Americans See Gun Violence as Crisis : The poll found a difference among men and women and a sharp difference among Republicans and Democrats.

• Illinois — Commissioner Suggests U.N. Send Troops to Fight ‘Quiet Genocide’ of Gun Violence in Chicago : Some politicians in the past have recommended deploying the National Guard to help Chicago quell gun violence, but Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin went even further on Thursday, suggesting the United Nations perhaps send in peacekeepers in the face of what he called a “quiet genocide.”
• Iowa — Op-Ed | Gun Law Gaps Equal Gun Violence : “More guns through loose gun laws will not result in fewer deaths. Just because it is in the Constitution does not make it free for all, and just because people break the law doesn’t mean we don’t need laws. The mass-shooting problem in the U.S. is reinforced by partisanship. We all need to take a hard look at ourselves and see what is stopping us from saving lives.”
• Maryland — Vigil Against Gun Violence Underscores the Role of Faith Leaders : Statistics, prayers, and religious teachings representative of various faiths underscored the important role religious leaders play in addressing gun violence as a national topic and for their own congregations.
• Nevada — Background checks advocates’ poll: Sandoval popular but it erodes if voters know he hasn’t enforced law:  Gov. Brian Sandoval remains immensely popular, but most Nevadans did not know he has refused to enforce a background checks initiative that passed last year and feel less favorably toward him when they learn about it, according to a poll by a group advocating for the stalled Question 1.
• New Jersey — Rodney Frelinghuysen’s support for pro-gun law repels longtime donor : Signaling possible challenges ahead for U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen’s re-election, a deep-pocketed, longtime donor saidTuesday that he would rather support Mikie Sherrill, a Democratic candidate in the race for New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District after Frelinghuysen’s affirmative vote for the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act last week.
• Ohio — Five Years After Sandy Hook, Push to Bring Guns Into Ohio Schools Gains Strength: Educators are training to repel mass shooters in districts across the state. But policies vary widely, and parents don’t always know whether their children’s teachers are armed, or not.
• Philadelphia — A progressive push for more gun violence:  Who ever thought the progressive position on gun violence would be to encourage more of it? Yet that’s the paradox in Philadelphia, where the city council considered a bill to force owners of hundreds of small corner stores to take down glass partitions that protect their managers and clerks from being robbed and assaulted.
• Washington — Op-Ed | Five years since Sandy Hook, Congress slumbers on gun safety : “Congress sleeps through mass shooting after mass shooting, refusing to enact the most sensible and broadly supported safety legislation, waking only briefly to plant big wet kisses on its main squeeze, the NRA.”

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