7K Children's Shoes Placed on Capitol Lawn

There was a pair for every child killed by gunfire since Sandy Hook
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 14, 2018 3:45 AM CDT
7K Children's Shoes Form Haunting Memorial to Victims of Gun Violence
7,000 empty pairs of shoes for every child killed by guns in the US since Sandy Hook cover the southeast lawn of the Capitol Building on Tuesday, March 13, 2018.   (Paul Morigi/AP Images for AVAAZ)

Some 7,000 pairs of children's shoes were placed on the lawn of the Capitol building Tuesday as a haunting reminder of children killed by gun violence. The advocacy group Avaaz, which organized the display, says the shoes represented all the children killed by gunfire since the Sandy Hook mass shooting in 2012. "We are bringing Congress face to face with the heartbreak of gun violence," campaigner Oscar Soria tells ABC.

Some of the shoes were donated by families that lost children to gun violence. Avaaz said they would all be donated to charity after they were taken off the lawn Tuesday afternoon. The group said the 7,000 estimate was based on numbers from the CDC. Snopes checked the data and found that the true number is probably closer to 7,500. (More gun violence stories.)

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