The Sandy Hook Promise is a nationwide campaign to curb gun violence in U.S. schools.
Organizers hope the campaign is as successful as efforts to control drunk driving and smoking have been.
Sandy Hook is the elementary school in Newtown, N.J., where 26 children and teachers were slain by a gunman on Dec. 14, 2012.
Because gun sales skyrocket after every mass shooting, organizers want the campaign to grow out of love, not fear. They avoid demonizing gun ownership. Their focus is not on gun control, but gun safety.
The movement hopes to grow Promise communities where parents and concerned citizens meet to discuss gun violence and how it can be curbed. The effort recognizes the Second Amendment and its popular interpretation of self-defense. It recognizes that guns are an American way of life.
What it refuses to recognize is that violence involving guns should be chalked up as part of the American way of life.
At Sandy Hook, the six teachers and 20 children were slain in 30 seconds by 20-year-old Adam Lanzer.
It is the second-deadliest school shooting in the United States, followed by the 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech where 32 students and teachers were slain.
Perhaps because the students at Sandy Hook were 5 and 6 years old, the horror is more visceral. A service last week of family members lighting candles in memory of their loved ones was particularly poignant by the simple reading of their names and an occasional one-word description of their personalities. “Bubbly,” “my sunshine,” “joyous,” and “effervescent” were used to describe students and teachers alike.
BY TAKING the Sandy Hook Promise participants endeavor to start a nationwide dialogue about ways to make our schools, homes and public venues more safe.
Over the year, organizers have found gun owners and non-gun owners alike are alarmed at the high rate of gun violence in the United States. According to their website, nearly 500,000 acts of gun violence are committed each year.
This is not about taking guns away, but making sure they are in the right hands.
It’s also about becoming a tighter-knit community.
Because Lanzer shot himself in the head after the Sandy Hook slayings, we’ll never know his motive or what led up to the horrific event.
