3 years after Sandy Hook, parents campaign to prevent gun violence
Nicole Hockley and Mark Barden both lost a child three years ago in the shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School, and they are working to make sure similar tragedies never happen.
Along with other parents, Hockley and Barden are part of "Sandy Hook Promise," a group that aims to prevent gun violence. Hockley's son, Dylan, 6, was killed on Dec. 14, 2012, along with Barden's son, Daniel, 6, and 18 other students and six adults at the Newtown, Connecticut, school. While she knows she can't change the past, Hockley said such violence can't become the new normal. "We can't passively sit back and say, 'These shootings happen,'" she told CBS News.
The group helped pass legislation in Connecticut two years ago that expanded the ban on assault weapons and limited the number of rounds per magazine, and Hockley, Barden, and other parents travel to schools around the country as part of their "Say Something" campaign, which teaches students to report if they hear any plans for attacks. "In almost every one of these mass shootings, there are signs and signals," Barden said. "There are opportunities to intervene. To stop the continuum before it leads to tragedy." The training worked in Cincinnati — a student alerted authorities to an attack being plotted by a classmate. "I burst into tears," Hockley said. "To actually know that we potentially saved lives — that means something." Catherine Garcia
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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