What are you doing this Valentine’s Day?
On Thursday, February 14, exactly two months since the horrific shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, hundreds of Ridgefield residents will swap their Valentine’s Day reds for green and white and head to Hartford in support of safer gun legislation in CT. “We’ll be leaving Ridgefield at 9:30am and arriving back home at 2:30pm- many of us have kids in school so we planned the trip around their schedules,” explained Kristina Larson. Together withGiselle Mazier and Katherine McGerald,Larson is spearheading “March for Change – Ridgefield”.
March for Change, symbolized by a green and white broken heart, began as a grassroots effort by two Fairfield moms who were distraught by the tragedy in Sandy Hook. Following in the footsteps of Connecticut Against Gun Violence (CAGV), an organization born in 1993, March for Change has attracted national media attention.
According the March for Change website, the coalition is the noise that will support the legislative efforts of CAGV. This NOISE will force our legislators to listen and take action.
Ridgefield will join many other communities throughout CT on the North steps of the State Capitol at 11am on February 14 in the hope of changing legislation which currently allows for high capacity magazines. “We want to educate people, we want to start a dialogue,” saysMazier. “There are many who don’t know what an assault weapon is,” she adds.
You are invited and encouraged to get involved. There are buses leaving from two locations at 9:30am on February 14. “On the north end of town, we will gather at St. Elizabeth Seton and on the south end, we will meet at Jesse Lee,” said Larson. There is a $26 fee to cover the cost of the buses. “If this is a burden for anyone, we have sponsors who will step in,” said Larson.
Should you have any questions or would like to participate, please email Kristina Larson (kristina_larson@hotmail.com).
“So far, we have two buses going but we can add as many as we need,” said Larson.
*Photo above: Kristina Larson (L) and Giselle Mazier (R)
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Please take note of several Public Hearings which will take place in Hartford and Newtown:
Friday, January 25, 2013
The first hearing will be on enhanced school security and safety (9:30 a.m. in room 2C at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford). Be advised that from 9:30 am 12:30 pm the committee will hear from invited experts. This portion will be an Informational Forum. The public and legislators are invited to speak from 1:00 pm – until all speakers have been heard. You can sign up to speak at 9:30 am. This will be done by a lottery system.
Monday, January 28th
This Public Hearing focuses on gun safety and will take place at 10:00am at the Legislative Office Building (LOB), room 2C in.
Wednesday, January 30th
Full Bipartisan Task Force will meet at 6:00pm at Newtown High School, Newtown, CT
For additional information:
- http://www.cga.ct.gov/asaferconnecticut/
- To email testimony: asaferconnecticut@cga.ct.gov
