Activists leave 7,000 pairs of children's shoes outside the U.S. Capitol in memory of gun violence victims

Gun violence memorial outside the Capitol.
(Image credit: Screenshot/Twitter/beanavarro)

About 7,000 pairs of children's shoes overtook the U.S. Capitol's lawn Tuesday morning.

The shoes were empty, but they carried a loaded message: Each pair represents a child killed by gun violence since the Sandy Hook school shooting in December 2012, claims Avaaz, the activist group that arranged the protest. The New York Times reported last month that in 239 school shootings since Sandy Hook, 138 people have been killed.

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.