All eyes will once again be on Newtown tonight as the final hearing of Connecticut's Bipartisan Task Force on Gun Violence Prevention and Children's Safety gets underway.
The Task Force, created to bring about legislative change in response to the Dec. 14 shooting that claimed the life of 20 first graders and six educators at Sandy Hook School, has drawn crowds in the thousands for its three previous hearings at the state capitol in Hartford.
Tonight's hearing at Newtown High School— about a mile from Sandy Hook School— is meant to give the community directly impacted by the tragedy an opportunity to share their thoughts on a wide range of topics, including:
- Gun laws
- Mental health
- School safety
Testimony will be reserved from the start of the meeting at 6 p.m. through 11 p.m. for Newtown's elected officials, first responders and residents. The final hour will bring testimony from those who are selected through a lottery, sign-ups for which begin at 4:30 p.m. outside the high school.
Patch will be on scene tonight, posting photos, videos and information into this Cover It Live blog beginning at 5:30 p.m. The hearing will be streamed live online via Connecticut Network.
What Do You Think?
We encourage you to share your thoughts and reactions to tonight's hearing as it happens by commenting in this blog and in the comments. If you're on Twitter, you can join the conversation by using this hashtag: #NewtownHearing