Nashville School Shooting

‘My Heart Is With Them': Connecticut Reacts to Nashville School Mass Shooting

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The heartbreak following the shooting at a school in Nashville is being felt by so many families here in Connecticut.

There are now renewed calls to prevent something like this from happening again.

“It literally stopped me in my tracks just looking at this, you know, an elementary school,” said Mark Barden of Sandy Hook Promise.

Barden says learning three children and three adults were killed in Nashville brought him right back to when his seven-year-old son Daniel was shot and killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

“There's all those connections, and I immediately think of those families in this embarking on this horrible, devastating lifetime journey that nobody should have to travel,” said Barden.

Since 2012, Sandy Hook has been the deadliest K to 12 school shooting, with 26 students and educators losing their lives.

Also feeling their heart sink was Senator Richard Blumenthal.

“Many of us I am sure hearing of this tragedy, were stricken by the similarity to Sandy Hook and the feeling of grief and hopelessness but also anger and disgust,” said Blumenthal.

Blumenthal calls this a sickening reminder of the national epidemic of gun violence, especially with assault weapons.

He’s been pushing to ban sales of military-style semi-automatic weapons, as well as other measures like safe storage based on Connecticut’s Ethan’s Law.

“There's no knowing here exactly what kind of measure could and would have prevented this tragedy. But we do know that common sense gun violence measures help stop gun violence,” said Blumenthal.

Blumenthal and others have also been advocating for a federal Office of Gun Violence Prevention. It would help coordinate efforts from a national level.

At Sandy Hook Promise, they’ve brought their violence prevention programming to more than 18 million people in all 50 states.

The idea is not only to change school culture, but for people to carry the training back to their families and communities.

“We want to see a nation of upstanders of folks who understand and know what the warning signs are and are equipped with the tools and the training of how to connect somebody to help before it becomes a tragedy or something more serious,” said Barden.

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