The shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School last month has led to a state and national debate about gun violence prevention and school safety initiatives.
Tonight, the state’s Bipartisan Task Force on Gun Violence Prevention and Children’s Safety, created in response to the school shooting that took the lives of 20 first graders and six staff members on Dec. 14, will hold a meeting at Newtown High School.
The informational public hearing begins at 6 p.m. and is expected to continue to midnight.
From 6 p.m. to 11 p.m., the task force will hear testimony from local officials, local first responders and families of the Sandy Hook Elementary system. Their time could go longer is necessary.
If testimony is over by midnight, the general public will be able to speak and the order will be determined by a lottery system.
Hundreds of people have attended meetings held earlier this week, including families of the shooting victims.
Lottery numbers will be drawn from 4:30 p.m. until 6 p.m. Names of those who show up later will be placed at the end of the speaker list.
The auditorium can hold 850 people. Once capacity is reached, the main entrance will be closed.
Speakers will be limited to three minutes of testimony.
Newtown High School is located at 12 Berkshire Road and there will be no access to the parking lot or the school until 4:30 p.m. because of ongoing school activities.
The task force requests that all testimony for the hearing be submitted electronically to asaferconnecticut@cga.ct.gov.