Gun control, rights take spotlight as Aurora anniversary nears

AURORA, Colo. -- In a somber ceremony Friday -- just hours from the one-year anniversary of the exact moment a gunman opened fire in a nearby theater -- family and friends of those lost in the massacre begged for the end of gun violence in this country.

Drawing a long breath before speaking, Tom Sullivan stepped to the microphone in the hot midday sun and said his life is now measured in Fridays. It has been 52 since hearing that his son, Alex Sullivan, was among the 12 killed a year ago in the Century 16 theater in Aurora during a midnight movie.

“How long must we sing this song?” he asked, quoting a U2 song.

Column One: Aurora victims to wed, transformed by love

The elder Sullivan’s anguished face appeared in newspapers across the world a year ago, capturing the grief of a nation as he learned his 27-year-old son was dead. At least 70 other people were wounded in the rampage.

Friday’s event, called No More Names, was part of a national tour sponsored by Mayors Against Gun Violence.

The names of more than 2,500 victims of gun violence will be read throughout the day and into the night on Friday, culminating with a moment of silence at 12:38 a.m. Saturday -- the time the gunman opened fire in the theater.

Along with Sullivan, relatives of those slain Dec. 14 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., also spoke, as did the daughter of a teacher killed April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School, 20 miles across the Denver metro area from Aurora.

“Today my father stands with me. I cannot hug him. You cannot see him. But he is here,” said Coni Sanders of her father, Dave Sanders, a popular teacher slain when two students methodically picked off their victims inside the school. “Someday there will be peace.”

Colorado has been squarely in the spotlight of the gun debate since the tragedies in Aurora and Connecticut. In March, Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, signed into law some of the most restrictive gun control measures in the nation, expanding background checks to include online and private sales, and to limit the size of ammunition magazines.

His action brought outrage from those who said he was trampling the rights of gun owners.

On Friday, a group of about 20 gun rights advocates fanned out in the parking lot, a few feet from the victims group. Among the signs shouldered by protesters was: “No Atrocity/Crime Trumps My Gun Rights.”

Peter Kula, 43, from the north Denver suburb of Arvada and a gun owner, said he came because he felt the remembrance ceremony had become too political in advocating for stricter gun control. He speculated that if someone had been armed inside the theater the gunman could have been be stopped.

He rejected the accusation that his group was insensitive to the victims, arguing that it was the backers of the event who were the ones being callous and manipulative. “In this country there is nothing worse than preying upon tragedies. I respect the victims and their families,” he said.

The two groups were separated by a fence and a contingency of park police and Colorado state troopers who ringed the area in case of trouble.

In the end there was none. Each group kept its distance, and the gun rights group eventually drifted to another part of the state park.

Stephen Barton, who was wounded in the Aurora theater and has since joined the Mayors Against Illegal Guns coalition, said he hoped for the day when the two sides could find compromise.

He shrugged off the presence of the protesters. “I don’t think it’s very sensitive, but I respect their right to be here.”

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