A grandfather’s grief: Carl Hardrick, longtime crusader against violence in Hartford, is trying to come to terms with the killing of his grandson, Makhi Buckly

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Hartford Courant | The tragic irony of Carl Hardrick losing a grandson to gun violence is profound.

The man who has spent decades trying to save Hartford’s children from street violence and comforting families in loss is now awash in grief himself after his only grandson was killed at age 19 on Memorial Day.

Despite the hard-won wisdom and warnings Hardrick tried to impart on his grandson, Makhi Buckly died during what police say may have been a gun deal gone bad. His funeral was Friday.

“I used to tell Makhi, ‘You can’t trust everybody. You don’t know their intent,’” Hardrick said.

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Many states were already advancing new gun rules this year, even before recent mass shootings

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USA Today | The spree of mass shootings over the past two months has led to renewed calls for more federal gun restrictions. But even before the most recent violence, state lawmakers were busy enacting measures designed to help solve a uniquely American public health crisis.

After mass shootings in Atlanta and Boulder, Colorado, claimed the lives of 18 people, President Joe Biden earlier this month announced six executive actions.

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CT lawmakers call for funding to stop ‘mass killing’ of Black and brown children

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CT Mirror | Days after a 3-year-old child and a 16-year-old boy were killed in separate shootings in Hartford, Sens. Marilyn Moore, Gary Winfield and Doug McCrory demanded Wednesday that the state fund community programs that stop cycles of violence and trauma in Connecticut’s cities.

“What we are seeing in our cities is a slow, banal mass killing,” said Winfield, D-New Haven. “And this state is doing almost nothing about it.”

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