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"It was incredibly special," Daniels said. "The speakers were amazing and heartbreaking – the mother from Newtown whose son died and people from Aurora. It was very sad, but it was great to experience it. It was a once-in-a-lifetime thing."
“I’ve never gone to a political rally and never been an activist, but in the past few years the amount of gun violence was disturbing, and, when it happened in Newtown, it was too close not to do anything about it,” Kripke said.
She was impressed by Gov. Malloy’s speech.
“He truly believed in the cause and had strength of conviction,” she said. “All the speakers stressed that it’s a human issue, not a political issue. It really struck a chord.”
Kripke and Daniels joined 5,500 people at the rally, including 200 from Weston who traveled to the event on four buses.
Kripke attended the rally with her daughters Alexa and Jessica and Daniels with her daughters, Hannah and Ellie, who attend Weston public schools. The girls agreed to give up school on Valentine’s Day to attend the rally. “It felt really good to try to have better gun laws and I think it felt really good to make a change,” Alexa said.
The event left Kripke feeling optimistic about getting some changes to gun laws.
“I felt hopeful about legislation," she said. "The time is now and I was getting a message from victims of gun violence that we can enact new laws on a state or federal level. We’re on the precipice of change and I hope that’s true. I was thrilled for the children to see we can make a difference by speaking up.”
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