Families Of Newtown Victims, Elected Officials, And Faith Leaders To Hold Remembrance Event In Newtown Marking Six-Month Anniversary Of Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

NEW YORK, June 12, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Friday, June 14^th marks the six-month anniversary of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School that took the lives of 26 victims in Newtown, Connecticut. Family members, elected officials, faith leaders, and other community members will join together in a day of remembrance and a call to action. They will come together to read the names of victims of gun violence and urge their representatives in Congress to support legislation that would require comprehensive background checks. After a moment of silence at 9:30 a.m., there will be a rally/press conference that includes Newtown survivors, Governor Dannel Malloy, faith leaders, and community members.

In addition, Mayors Against Illegal Guns will officially launch its "No More Names:  National Drive to Reduce Gun Violence" tour from Newtown. The tour will go to 25 states over a period of 100 days. At each stop on the tour, gun violence survivors, their families and concerned community members will rally in support of gun violence prevention efforts and to urge their representatives in Washington to support background checks that will reduce gun violence.

Every day, 33 Americans are murdered with guns in this country. This past April, a minority of U.S. senators voted to block bipartisan legislation sponsored by Senators Joe Manchin and Pat Toomey that would have helped keep guns out of the hands of criminals by requiring background checks for commercial gun sales. Recent independent polls have found that more than 90 percent of Americans support background checks for all gun sales.  

What: Remembrance Event to Mark Six-Month Anniversary of the Newtown Shooting

Who: - Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy
- Families of Newtown Victims
- Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty
- Hartford Mayor Pedro E. Segarra
- First Selectman Pat Llodra of Newtown
- First Selectman Matt Knickerbocker of Bethel
- First Selectman Rudy Marconi of Ridgefield
- First Selectman Ed Edelson of Southbury
- First Selectman Gayle Weinstein of Weston
- Faith Leaders

Where: Edmond Town Hall
45 Main Street
Newtown, CT 06470

When: Friday, June 14^th from 9:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m.

*Press conference will begin after the 9:30 a.m. moment of silence in honor of the 26 lives lost on December 14^th

*Newtown family members will be available to speak with media before and after the event. For interview requests in advance, on-site and via satellite, please contact Stacey Radnor at 202-870-6668

About Mayors Against Illegal Guns

Since its creation in April 2006, Mayors Against Illegal Guns has grown from 15 members to more than 950 mayors from across the country. We have more than 1.5 million grassroots supporters, making us the largest gun violence prevention advocacy organization in the country.  The bipartisan coalition, co-chaired by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, has united the nation's mayors around these common goals: protecting communities by holding gun offenders accountable; demanding access to crime gun trace data that is critical to law enforcement efforts to combat gun trafficking; and working with legislators to fix weaknesses and loopholes in the law that make it far too easy for criminals and other dangerous people to get guns.  Learn more at www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org

MEDIA CONTACTS
Lizzie Ulmer: [email protected] or 269-271-2331
Stacey Radnor: [email protected] or 202-870-6668
Kayla Keller: [email protected] or 281-682-6212

SOURCE Mayors Against Illegal Guns