Community Corner

Sandy Hook Shooting Survivor Will Be Guest at State of the Union

Teacher Natalie Hammond, who was shot on Dec. 14, will attend the event as a guest of U.S. Representative Elizabeth Esty, the Hartford Courant is reporting.

 

Sandy Hook Elementary School teacher Natalie Hammond was one of two injured during the Dec. 14 shooting that left 20 children and six adults dead. Now the teacher will appear at President Barack Obama's fifth State of the Union Address, the Hartford Courant reports.

Hammond will attend as the guest of Rep. Elizabeth Esty, whose district includes Newtown. She will watch the address from the gallery of the House of Representatives, alongside guests of other representatives. The Courant reports that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi will bring an "unidentified child from Newtown and her mother."

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Rep. Esty is a member of the Congressional Gun Violence Task Force, which has been holding hearing since the shooting to make recommendations on legislation.

"As the Representative for Newtown and as a mother, I feel a special responsibility to that community and to the parents who have suffered such unimaginable horror," she said about her role on the task force.

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In January, Esty spoke at the town's second community discussion on the fate of Sandy Hook school, telling the crowd she had the ear of Vice President Joe Biden.

"I don't know how we're gonna do it, but we'll do it," she said at the meeting. "You decide what you need. Our job is ... to make it happen as quickly as possible."


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