Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) penned an op-ed in The Newtown Bee on Friday in remembrance of gun violence victims, marking the six-month anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
Giffords, who was shot in the head in a 2011 shooting in Tucson, Ariz., co-authored the op-ed with Roxanna Green, the mother of a 9-year-old girl killed in the Tucson shooting. Giffords and her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, launched the gun control initiative Americans for Responsible Solutions in January.
Six staff members and 20 children were killed on Dec. 14, 2012, in the shooting at Sandy Hook in Newtown, Conn.
Giffords and Green said they "send our love" to the families of those killed in Newtown, adding that the grief doesn't lessen as time goes on:
The grief of the parents of children killed in Newtown – like the families of those killed in Tucson – doesn’t diminish with anniversaries. It takes no holidays. It is not diluted by the passage of time, in contrast to its impact on our leaders, who have promised action, but were stopped by special interests. The grief of families who lose their loved ones, is, trust us, almost immovable. It is with us all every day.
Today, we send our love to the families of Newtown – the dads who won’t have their children with them on Father’s Day this weekend, the siblings who play catch and soccer alone. We know that the attention paid to anniversaries can feel surreal, as life without our loved ones is measured in moments and hours, not public markers.
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden also commemorated the anniversary, meeting on Thursday with relatives of the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting.
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