Vigil held at New Haven church to honor Sandy Hook victims, victims of gun violence

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WFSB) - A vigil was held at the St. James Episcopal Church in New Haven to honor those lost in Sandy Hook, as well as those lives lost due to gun violence.

Parkland shooting survivor Sari Kaufman attended tonight’s vigil.

She says she remembers hearing about the Sandy Hook victims. Five years later it was her high school, her friends, and classmates who were under attack.

“The survivors of Sandy Hook, the members of Newtown, inspired me and told me to put my grief into action and continue to advocate for change. To honor the lives that were lost in my school at Sandy Hook and the millions of shootings that have happened since then,” says Kaufman.

Over the past ten years many of the survivors in Newtown have turned their tragedy into a movement.

One of the goals of this movement is to end the gun violence the U.S. is seeing daily.

In 2022 dozens of people across Connecticut have lost their lives to gun violence.

Nearly 300 names were read at Monday’s vigil to memorialize those who died due to gun violence.

Activists say there needs to be more state funding in local programs and believe gun laws nationwide need to be stricter.

“Last year we had people really angry in this state. You know what they were angry about? Angry about that people left their cars unlocked. Some kids came by and stole their cars and they made sure we changed policy. And they made sure they knew we were angry. Kids are killed on the streets in our state and people aren’t angry enough to do anything about it,” says state senator Gary Winfield.

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