Newtown families, gun control groups mark 6-month anniversary of massacre with lobbying push

Six months after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, some of the victims' families are heading to Capitol Hill to remind lawmakers they are painfully waiting for action, while some of the president's allies are asking him to do more without any new prospects of legislation to toughen gun laws.

The lobbying visit Tuesday and Wednesday is one of several observances gun control proponents are planning for the half-year anniversary of the Dec. 14 massacre of 20 first graders and six staff in Newtown, Conn. The Sandy Hook families and other activists are keeping pressure on lawmakers to expand background purchases for firearm sales, despite Senate rejection of the measure in April and no indication votes have shifted.

Nicole Hockley, who lost 6-year-old Dylan at Sandy Hook, said their family's pain has only gotten worse as time goes by without the younger of their two sons at home. She says the fight for new laws, which they've also taken to several states, has left them emotionally exhausted, but they won't give up "no matter how long it takes."

"It is very disappointing that six months have passed, and although we are making progress in individual states, we aren't making progress on the federal level when it comes to background checks when an overwhelming number of Americans support it," she said in a telephone interview.

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