The wait to get into the legislative office building in Hartford for a hearing of the Bipartisan Task Force on Gun Violence Prevention and Children’s Safety, was around two hours and 1,300 members of the public have already expressed interest in speaking.
The hearing opened with family members of the victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting asking lawmakers to ban assault weapons.
Jesse Lewis, 6, was one of the 20 students and six staff members killed in the shooting at the elementary school on Dec. 14. His father, Neil Heslin, said he dropped Jesse off at 9:04 a.m. that morning. Twenty minutes later, his son was dead.
During his testimony, Heslin asked for a ban on assault weapons and someone in the audience spoke against it. Lawmakers asked people in the audience to refrain from commenting and Heslin asked that person to listen to the testimony and realize that the shooting could have happened in any school.
Vicky Soto, 27, of Stratford, was a teacher at Sandy Hook, and died trying to save her young students. Her 15-year-old brother submitted written testimony because it would be too hard to speak. He too asked for a ban on assault weapons.
Veronique Pozner lost her 6-year-old son Noah in the school shooting as is asking lawmakers for a comprehensive ban assault weapons and to limit high-capacity magazine.
She showed a photo of her son holding a Hanukkah candle. It was taken the night before he was killed.
She also showed a Thanksgiving turkey picture Noah made by tracing his hand. Each feature included something he was thankful for.
At the center, “he wrote,’ the life I live,’” she said.
In addition to the families, gun industry experts spoke to the panel.
A representative of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which is based in Newtown, attended and said the organization is “deeply saddened,” by the school shooting.
He said that “reasonable minds can disagree” on how to reduce violence, but that they want to be part of the discussion on how to reduce violence without resorting to quick fixes or hurting the local gun manufacturing industry.
Extra metal detectors and additional security were in place at the Legislative Office Building, where members of the public have waited as long as two hours to get inside.
The 50-member panel was created weeks after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, where 20 first graders and six staff members were killed, and more than 500 people have signed up to speak at the meeting.
Stephen Barton, of Southbury, who was wounded in shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, is one of them.
Barton, who grew up 10 miles away from Sandy Hook, said he believes now is the time to share his story.
“I'll be hoping to put a face to gun violence, but also speak about the policies that I think will help prevent these sort of tragedies from happening,” he said.
You can view the testimony on the Web site of the Bipartisan Task Force on Gun Violence Prevention and Children’s Safety.
Several of gun control bills have been proposed, including limiting ammunition sales and increasing background checks, but opponents argue that the actions of one gunman don't warrant restricting the rights of law-abiding gun owners.
The hearing started at 10 a.m. and lawmakers have said it might last until after midnight.
Two other meetings will be held later this week, including a full task force meeting on Wednesday at Newtown High School.
Photo Credit: NBC Connecticut/Lynn Sferrazza