BRATTLEBORO — Gun Sense Vermont is sponsoring a family-friendly vigil on the Common on Saturday, June 15, from 7 to 8 p.m., to mark the six-month anniversary of the Newtown massacre.
The theme of this vigil is “We Have Not Forgotten.” A bell will be tolled once for each Newtown child killed, and for the roughly 80 children who have been killed with guns in the United States since that tragic event.
Songs of hope will be sung, and there will be a renewed call for a conversation in our communities and at the Statehouse on the issue of gun safety, so that appropriate action can be taken next legislative session.
On Dec. 14, 2012, a gunman fatally shot 20 children and six adult staff members in a mass murder at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the village of Sandy Hook in Newtown, Conn.
The incident was the second deadliest mass shooting by a single person in American history, after the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre. It is the second deadliest mass murder at an American elementary school after the 1927 Bath School bombings in Michigan.
Gun Sense Vermont was founded by Ann Braden, a Brattleboro mother of two young children, who was deeply moved by the shooting and aftermath in Newtown. The organization coordinates efforts by Vermont groups and individuals and national organizations promoting new and enhanced gun safety laws that respect the Second Amendment and protect our children and communities.