Community Corner

Obama To Take Sandy Hook Families On Air Force One

The president will fly back to Washington D.C. with family members of some of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings.


When he leaves Connecticut tonight President Barack Obama will bring back to Washington D.C. with him the relatives of 11 victims of the Sandy Hook shootings. 

The family members will fly with Obama on Air Force One when the president completes his speech at the University of Connecticut, television news station WTNH is reporting. Obama is expected to wrap up his comments, many of which will focus on gun control, around 7 p.m. tonight.

The relatives of the Newtown shooting victims are expected to join efforts to lobby the U.S. Senate in Washington to support a gun control package, the blog Capitol Watch is reporting.  The Newtown families also will meet privately with legislators expected to vote on a related federal bill to expand background checks for gun purchases, Capitol Watch says. 

Obama's Connecticut visit is widely viewed as his last-ditch effort to get a gun control package through the Senate. His visit here comes on the heels of Connecticut's passage last week of a broad gun control bill that included an expanded ban assault weapons and high capacity gun magazines, as well as background checks for gun purchases. 



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