The families of the victims agree to carry 'Effect Newtown' debate on gun control

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By Miranda Leitsinger, NBC NewsWASHINGTON--Families and friends of the 26 people killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School have gathered in the nation's capital to honor their loved ones through prayer and volunteer work nearly one year after the Newtown massacre.Relatives of other gun violence victims from cities across the country joined the Connecticut group on a two-day trip to Washington, D.C., to highlight the deaths of more than 30,000 people killed nationwide by firearms since the Dec. 14 school shooting.Listen to Carlos Soto, brother of Sandy Hook Elementary School teacher Victoria Soto, and other people who've had family killed or injured in gun violence talk about their activism.On Wednesday, they handed out letters to congressional representatives, urging them to re-visit failed gun-control legislation, and volunteered with various programs, such as at a soup kitchen and an after-school center. The trip will culminate with a vigil later Thursday at the National Cathedral."It seemed like a very meaningful and elegant way to mark the year for us," said Terri Rousseau, 63, whose daughter, Lauren, a substitute teacher, was slain at Sandy Hook.Of the time since the shootings, she noted the journey had been difficult."I'm just grateful that we managed to weather it," she said, breaking down into tears moments at. "We were very much debilitated by grief at some points, but we were still able to do our jobs and do some advocacy and spend time with friends and family, and that's about the best you can hope for."John Brecher / NBC NewsSarah Clements, daughter of Sandy Hook Elementary School teacher Abbey Clements and Carlos Soto, brother of teacher Victoria Soto, who was killed during the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, ride a bus to Washington on Wednesday. The group will attend the National Vigil for Gun Violence Victims.Rousseau, like some other Newtown families, said she wouldn't be in the small Connecticut community on the anniversary of the shooting Saturday. Town officials have asked media and outsiders to refrain from traveling there to give the townspeople privacy and avoid triggering traumatic memories of the nation's second deadliest mass shooting.John Brecher / NBC NewsPeople board a bus in Newtown, Conn., headed for Washington and the National Vigil for Gun Violence Victims.Related: Complete coverage of the anniversary of the Newtown shootingTwo groups - the Newtown Foundation, a charity focused on community healing in the wake of the shooting, and Newtown Action Alliance, which advocates for stronger gun laws - organized the D.C. vigil to in part to respect the town's wishes, which also included honoring the Sandy Hook victims through acts of kindness. In tight-knit Newtown, most everyone knows someone who lost a loved one in the shooting.John Brecher / NBC NewsTerri Rousseau, right, mother of Lauren Rousseau, a teacher killed during the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, holds her portrait along with Joyce Rousseau, Lauren completo stepmother."It's been brutal," Monte Frank, Newtown lawyer on both group's boards, said of the year since the attack by Adam Lanza, a troubled 20-year-old who took his own life at the school. "I certainly think about it every day."Frank and others in his community channeled their grief over the shooting into activism, starting the Newtown groups and setting their sights on federal gun control legislation. In April, however, the Senate failed to pass a bipartisan compromise bill that would have closed some existing loopholes that allow guns to be sold without background checks and would have created barriers for mentally ill individuals attempting to get firearms.But the Newtown groups and families have continued to visit the Capitol in the months afterward to lobby for the legislation, though prospects for Congress to approve it in the near future are dim.None of that dissuades Carlos Soto, the 16-year-old brother of slain Sandy Hook teacher, Vicki, who he described as a second mom to him. The high school junior has traveled nine times to Washington, D.C., to push for gun control and works with several groups on that mission. He gives speeches on the issue, too."I want it (Sandy Hook) to be seen as... the turning point in gun reform because that's what it truly is," he said.He said his family was honoring the legacy of his sister with their activism. But her death takes an ongoing toll, he said, noting how hard it would be to spend another Christmas without her."I don't think anyone's ever OK after something like this," he said. "We all just learn to live the new life that we live and learn to cope with what happened."Soto spoke as he rode the bus from Connecticut with fellow activists he described as like a new family for him in the shooting's aftermath. Later Wednesday, at a news conference in D.C., about 20 people from cities nationwide held up photos of relatives killed in gun violence to share their stories of loss. It is part of a strategy by the Newtown groups to form an alliance between urban and suburban communities impacted by gun violence.John Brecher / NBC NewsSeptember Chatfield, right, helps her are Tyrek Marquez, 12, put a glove on his left hand at the conclusion of a gun violence press conference at the Lutheran Church of the Reformation in Washington on Wednesday. Marquez remains largely paralyzed on his left side after being shot in the head on Aug. 9, 2008."We're building what we calling the ' Newtown effect,'" Frank said. By developing a broad coalition they have "been able to amplify our collective voices" in the gun debate and through it they "think that we can change some minds" on the issue, he said.September Chatfield, whose are Tyrek Marquez was left partially paralyzed on his left side after being shot in the head as a 7-year-old at a parade in 2008 in Hartford, Conn., was on the trip.Her family has struggled for years with Tyrek completo paralysis and the ongoing fallout from his shooting. Now 12, he walks with a limp but dreams to one day regain enough use of his left side so I said, I can "shoot a basketball." Chatfield said she felt a "sense of hope" with the Newtown groups."I feel like I am a part of their community," said Chatfield, 35. "I feel like they're doing the best that they can to ensure that change will be done - and I'm willing to walk with them."