Newtown families mark anniversary with a plea for parents to unite

A "MASSIVE COMMUNITY"

"We're saying, let's stop this polarized debate, and let's reset the conversation to - we all love our children, and let's put their needs first, and find a way to identify and implement sensible solutions that will protect them," said Nicole Hockley, who lost her 6-year-old son Dylan on December 14.

The idea is for people to go to the Sandy Hook Promise website and sign a promise to "parent together." The group hopes to build a community of 500,000 people by the end of this year, and to double that number by the end of 2014.

Early next year, Sandy Hook Promise will begin rolling out programs and tools that they believe will help prevent gun violence.

Hockley said she and others from Sandy Hook Promise have been looking at "regional best-practice programs" that can be turned into models for communities across the country.

"I think of myself and, before 12/14, I considered myself fairly typical, unextraordinary. I would see tragedies on the news or read about them, and I would say, 'How awful,' feel helpless, and then get back to my daily life," said Hockley.

"And with 12/14, as a nation we really came together in terms of a shared outpouring of support and grief, and that was - as one of the people on the receiving end - an incredible moment," said Hockley. "If (parents) come together, join together, and put our kids first, that is a massive community."

The Hockleys and the Bardens and many of the other Newtown families will be out of town this December 14, and the town of Newtown, which played host to a deluge of media and activists last winter, has said it will not host any public events.

"There are 26 families working hard to recover, and for some the journey is long and difficult and our main goal is to protect their rights and their privacy," Newtown First Selectman Patricia Llodra said in an interview.

"We are not a tourist attraction or a large city. We are a small town of 28,000 that just wants to be left alone to heal," she said.