Newtown parents start anti-violence drive
2013-01-15 11:01
Newtown - Parents of children slain in the Connecticut school massacre held
photos of their sons and daughters, cried, hugged and spoke in quavering voices
as they called for a national dialogue to help prevent similar tragedies.
The parents - members of the newly formed
group Sandy Hook Promise - spoke out as politicians from Maine to New Mexico
marked the one month that has passed since the shooting with renewed demands
for tighter gun control.
"I do not want to be someone sharing
my experience and consoling another parent next time. I do not want there to be
a next time," said Nicole Hockley, whose son Dylan was among the 20
elementary school students and six adults killed by a gunman a month ago at
Sandy Hook Elementary School.
The Sandy Hook group says it wants to
have open-minded discussions about a range of issues, including guns, mental
health and safety in schools and other public places. Several speakers said
they did not believe there was a single solution.
Turning point
"We want the Sandy Hook school
shootings to be recalled as the turning point where we brought our community
and communities across the nation together and set a real course for
change," said group co-founder Tom Bittman.
While the Sandy Hook group did not offer
specific remedies, mayors and governors in favour of tighter gun restrictions
lobbied for a series of them on Monday.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg
addressed a summit on gun violence at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and
argued for greater federal gun control, including background checks for all
purchases and a federal crackdown on trafficking.
"Every state in the union has
citizens killed by guns coming from another state and every state is powerless
to stop the mayhem," Bloomberg said.
Bloomberg is co-chairperson of Mayors
Against Illegal Guns, whose members spoke out on Monday in cities including
Portland, Maine; Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said he has ordered an analysis of city employee
pension funds to see if they hold companies that make or sell assault weapons.
Virginia Tech
In Cranford, New Jersey, a group of mayors backing new restrictions were
joined by a man whose 23-year-old son was shot to death in the 2007 massacre at
Virginia Tech.
"I'm just one member of a Virginia
Tech family, Newtown has theirs, Aurora has theirs, Tucson has theirs, and now
we're starting to come together," Michael Pohle said. "This coalition
is growing, and it's going to become more powerful, and we're going to have the
ability to influence elections as well."
The gun control debate heated up after
20-year-old Adam Lanza shot his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School on 14 December
and killed 26 people before committing suicide as police arrived.
He also killed his mother at their Newtown home before driving to the school
and carrying out the massacre.
President Barack Obama is reviewing
proposals from Vice President Joe Biden, who is leading a task force on ways to
reduce gun violence.
Obama told reporters on Monday he is looking at actions he can take on his
own to confront gun violence amid resistance from the National Rifle
Association lobbying group and wariness among lawmakers from both parties.
The NRA has fiercely opposed new gun
control laws and has called for "a meaningful conversation" about
school safety, mental health issues and marketing violence to children.
Mental health
A number of governors were already moving
ahead with proposals to toughen state laws, including in New York, Delaware and
Maryland.
Jeremy Richman, whose daughter Avielle
was killed at Sandy Hook, said a deeper understanding of mental health issues
is essential. He and his wife, Jennifer Hensel, started a foundation to explore
issues such as risk factors and successful interventions.
Richman spoke at the same news conference
as Hockley, who said she still finds herself reaching for her son Dylan's hand
or expecting him to crawl into bed with her for a hug before school.
"It's so hard to believe he's
gone," she said.
- AP
