newtown massacre

Newtown Residents Form Advocacy Group, Head to D.C.

Police guard the entrance to the Sandy Hook School on December 15, 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut. The residents of an idyllic Connecticut town were reeling in horror from the massacre of 20 small children and six adults in one of the worst school shootings in US history. The heavily armed gunman shot dead 18 children inside Sandy Hook Elementary School, said Connecticut State Police spokesman Lieutenant Paul Vance. Two more died of their wounds in hospital.
Photo: Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images

On Monday afternoon Jack Pinto and Noah Pozner, both 6, were buried in the the first funerals held for victims of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary. Hours later about 55 people gathered for a meeting of Newtown United, a new grassroots group that hopes to find positive ways to respond to the tragedy. Like the rest of the country, they disagree on the appropriate response. Some discussed mental health or argued that the shooting shouldn’t be politicized, but mostly they focused on gun control. While they’re still far from reaching a consensus, a delegation from the group is headed to Washington on Tuesday to meet with the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and people affected by the shooting in Aurora. “I would like, when you think of Sandy Hook, you think, ‘Oh, that’s where they banned assault weapons,’” said Newtown resident John Neuhoff. “If we can ban fireworks, we should be able to ban assault weapons.”

Newtown Forms Advocacy Group, Heads to D.C.