Newtown, Connecticut, serves as a reminder that the threat of gun violence exists throughout America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A road passes from the center of town past the pleasant New England homes and across a creek to reach the Sandy Hook Elementary School in a few minutes, set amid forested hills with the tree line accented by white church steeples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This December marks ten years since a 20-year-old resident shot and killed 26 children and staff members before turning the pistol on himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, the flag in Newtown at half-mast, a gesture of sympathy from one place to another so deeply damaged by an inexplicable act of brutality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nicole Hockley is a Sandy Hook Promise Foundation founding member, and I meet her outside the office on a picnic table in the warm spring weather to talk about the tragedy in Uvalde, Texas, over 2,000 miles away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“All shootings rekindle scars that, every time I believe they’re healing, are torn open again,” she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“However, because it is so disturbingly similar to what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School, it hit closer to home in a manner that I hadn’t imagined, and I fell into shock.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dylan, her six-year-old son, was among those killed at Sandy Hook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She understands that changing the law is an impossible battle, therefore her organization has forced to make a compromise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Newtown, Connecticut, serves as a reminder that the threat of gun violence exists throughout America.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[1141],"class_list":["post-17364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories","tag-texas"],"yoast_head":"\n