Updated at 3:50 p.m. – Local elected officials, religious leaders and the local chapter of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence will hold a rally against gun violence Sunday in Rockville.
The Rally for Peace “to bring awareness to the prevention of gun violence” is set for 5 p.m. at the old grey courthouse and comes just days after the third anniversary of the Dec. 14, 2012, mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, that left 26 dead.
“I think we haven’t learned the lesson. Many of us made a pledge after Sandy Hook that this wouldn’t happen again,” Rockville Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton, who helped organize the event, said Tuesday. “Unfortunately, we have not made great strides.”
On Dec. 2, 14 people were killed and 22 injured in a mass shooting at a government facility in San Bernardino, California, the latest in a string of high-profile mass shootings around the country.
Mindy Landau, who co-founded the Montgomery County chapter of the Brady Campaign two years ago, said the group has about 150 members and more have been joining in the past few weeks.
"I think the tide has turned and people have gotten really fed up with gun violence," said Landau, who lives in Potomac. "I think these people feel very passionately that gun violence is on the uptick in this country and they really feel like they want to do something and they just don't know what to do."
The organization took part in a rally earlier this year in front of the National Rifle Association headquarters in Virginia. Landau said she expects a few hundred people to attend Sunday's rally.
Faith-based organizations such as the Black Ministers Conference of Montgomery County, Montgomery County Muslim Foundation and Jewish Community Relations Council are co-sponsoring Sunday’s event. County Executive Ike Leggett and Rep. Chris Van Hollen are expected to speak.
While Van Hollen has been outspoken in his support for gun control measures, Newton billed the event “as a time for us to stand up and say we want an end to this senseless killing.”
That may require stricter gun control laws, “but that’s not the focus of the rally,” Newton said.
The Brady Campaign, a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying group, advocates for tighter gun control measures around the country.
