Wilton Teen Organizes Town Hall on Gun Violence

WILTON, CT -- On Saturday, June 9, at noon, the Little Theater at Wilton High School will be the venue for a town hall-style meeting with State Sen. Toni Boucher (R-26) and Will Haskell, Democratic nominee for the 26th state senate district, to discuss gun violence, college affordability, mental health in schools, and early voting rights, among other topics affecting the youth of Connecticut.

The event's organizer is 16-year-old Wilton High School junior Isabella Segall. She says the mass shootings at Stoneman Douglas High School lit the torch of her newfound activism.

"The Parkland shooting, I was more upset than I have ever been before," she said. "I was a little young when Sandy Hook happened, I didn't feel like I had any power. Nor did the severity of what was going on really hit me. But when Parkland happened, it really, really got me, I was so so upset! So I sat down next to my dad, in in tears, and I said, 'we have to do something!"

What Segall did, was found the Connecticut chapter of Teens Against Gun Violence.

The group has been focusing on legislative efforts, and reckon their record so far is 1-1. In May, Governor Malloy signed into law legislation that banned "bump stocks," the gun enhancements that enable semi-automatics to fire like automatic weapons. However, the group has also thrown its momentum behind legislation to ban "ghost guns," weapons made from mail-ordered parts, mostly, and without any serial numbers. Not only have these not been banned, but business has been booming since the Parkland shootings.

Photo by Bryan Haeffele

Segall's is just the latest youthful face the media is placing on the anti-gun violence movement. Just one day after the Parkland shooting, Ridgefield High School sophomore Lane Murdock began her highly-celebrated crusade. Is it the unshakable specter of Sandy Hook, or just something in the water, that is moving Nutmeg State youth to take up arms against arms?

"In Connecticut we have really great schools, and that leads us to be very educated, and very smart, and very aware of what's happening around us," Segall explained. "And when something like this happens, it's only right that we want to take action."

Taking action may be easier for Segall than most, for as she explained, she has "always done theater, and acting, and all of that stuff, so I love being in front of a crowd. But I have never been as passionate about something before , so when I was asked to speak at the Hartford March for Our Lives, at first I didn't know if I wanted to do it, I said 'why me? I'm not really qualified.' And then I realized that no one ever really starts out qualified... it's just the passion and the drive, and if you really want to make a change, it will come out of your gut, it will come out of your heart, and it will come naturally."

Once CTTAGV has used its grass roots influence to convince the state legislators to ban 'ghost guns,' what's their next target? Segall told The Patch she wasn't quite sure, but she would go with the flow:

"Because this has all happened so fast, I have sort have been thrown into this. I've never really done anything like this before. I've never ever really had anything to do with activism... We're just kind of playing this by ear. But whatever needs to be done, we're going to do."