“Every Day Is An Anniversary of a Gun Death”

Dozens of advocates against gun violence gathered in Fair Haven Heights to mourn the 26 young people murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School — as well as the hundreds of fellow Connecticut residents shot to death each year — in a solemn ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of a preventable tragedy.

CT Against Gun Violence (CAGV) organized the solemn vigil in the candlelit sanctuary of St. James Episcopal Church on East Grand Avenue in Fair Haven Heights – and added to those the names, ages, and towns of residence of 249 others killed in the state last year alone, including many in largely urban Black and brown communities like Newhallville, Fair Haven, and the Hill.

In what amounted to a recommitment ceremony for activists and those who’d lost loved ones – often one and the same person – 40 people, including Mayor Justin Elicker, State Sen. Gary Winfield, New London State Rep. Joe De La Cruz, remembered and honored their lost loved ones. 

They reminded and quietly inspired each other at how much has been accomplished in terms of new gun violence prevention legislation, especially in Connecticut, and yet how much more also needs to be achieved.

“Every day on average 100 Americans die by gun violence,” said CAGV Executive Director Jeremy Stein. ​“And in Connecticut every other day someone else is killed. Every day, unfortunately, is an anniversary of a gun death.”

In quietly subdued, measured voices that at times broke into crying, speakers talked about their loved ones, who were gone in a violent second, and the memories and fears survivors continue to live with. Most of all they spoke about how seemingly unbearable sadness, guilt, and rage can be converted through civic action into hope.

Here are some highlights in the order of the speakers:

Mayor Elicker: ​“I am the father of a four- and an eight-year-old and I can’t imagine losing a daughter.” He reprised an NPR story he’d heard on the radio during his drive over to the church, of a Sandy Hook parent whose last memory was about braiding her daughter’s hair before going to school. ​“I turned off the radio and thought of all the babies we’ve lost. We have lost so many people” –and here he recited a dozen names of New Haveners killed by gun violence –“who are somebody’s baby.”

State Sen. Gary Winfield: ​“We’ve made the choice to live like this, allowing tens of thousands of our children to die because we won’t change our document, the Constitution. Kids are killed daily on our streets because with us it’s okay. We choose to live like this. I’m angry about Sandy Hook and also because people don’t care enough. I hope you can be as angry as I about the mass killings that we let go on.”

State Rep. Joe De La Cruz: ​“My son was shot and killed in December 2016, shortly after I was sworn in.” He said he had gotten into politics, shifting from a career as a coach, in order to focus on addiction, which was afflicting his son. ​“We never dreamed our son would be shot and killed… Looking back, I should have been involved far earlier.” When you’re in Hartford seeing ​“those orange shirts there [of the kind CAGV supporters were wearing at Wednesday night’s vigil], that message is so important. Two thousand people showed up at our son’s funeral. There was so much love I have ​‘support guilt.’”

Paola Serrecchia, of the HOPE Family Justice Center: ​“This is a time of year when people rejoice, but today families are grieving and we grieve with them. Guns are the most common weapon in homicides of intimate partners in Connecticut. We need more safety planning [legislation] when guns are in a home. We are here to give hope when hope is hard to find.”

Sari Kaufman, Parkland survivor and founder of the Yale chapter of Students Demand Action: ​“The survivors of Sandy Hook inspired me to put my grief into action. That’s why, as a junior at Yale, I started a gun violence prevention organization. Please don’t wait until it happens for you to get involved.”

Sean Reeves: ​“On August 11, 2011, my son was shot and my wife and I had to decide to pull the plug. Within the last 10 years New Haven has experienced 130 homicides, including my family members and friends. It was difficult for me not to retaliate and seek vengeance. My community didn’t know that you can go to Hartford to lobby, and now I’m committed to bringing those [bereaved] mothers, daughters, children up there. This is the 11th anniversary for my son, 10th for Sandy Hook. Today we say, ​‘Enough is enough!’”

Rhea Ahuja, leader in the CAGV Youth Council: ​“I was in second grade when Sandy Hook occurred. I felt that it’s ridiculous that this [shooter drills] was the one action we could take, to close the door, to pull the drapes! … The CAGV Youth Council showed me change is possible.”

Leah Juliette, LGBTQIA activist: ​“Our lives are intertwined with yours. It does not matter if now we can get married [hailing the recently signed federal Defense of Marriage Act] if we get gunned down at age 10. Twenty percent of hate crimes are generated by gender discrimination and LGBT folks are twice as likely to experience gun violence. The ​‘radical queer agenda’ is to make it home [alive] each night.”

After the names were read, Stein walked to the podium and raised his cell phone, ​“We’ve just heard in addition to the 26, 249 names, people gone in a second. Let’s work so that next year we don’t have to read so many. This is my uncle David. He killed himself with a firearm. I want to honor him. Please stand and say aloud any other names.”

After a dozen names were called from the audience, Stein rang a bell, sonorous, long and reverberating, of the kind you might hear in a Buddhist temple. 

It was in memory of the approximately 1,700 lost to gun violence in the last ten years in the state. The sound rippled down the aisles and pews of the church, and when it ended CAGV organizers took to the podium to explain how to become more involved in legislative advocacy.

Immediate on Stein’s agenda is to lobby in Hartford for more community-level violence prevention and interruption programs. CAGV is on a state commission that advises the state health department, he reported, on how to deploy a currently earmarked $2.9 million to be awarded to such programs across the state.

“That’s only ARPA [federal American Rescue Plan Act] money legislated last year.” Those programs need to be put on a firmer financial footing and the amount needs to be seriously increased, he added.

In addition to New Haven’s, similar vigils were held Wednesday night in Stamford, Salisbury, and Enfield, Stein reported.