About 75 people sang, spoke and remembered Monday evening during a vigil to honor the victims of the Connecticut school shooting.
The crowd gathered near Pleasant Hill City Hall at the corner of Gregory Lane and Cleaveland Road as they memoralized the victims of the December shooting and called for stricter gun control laws.
The vigil was organized by Contra Costa County chapter of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Other groups, such as MoveOn, joined in.
Some of those attending held signs and pictures of the 20 children shot to death at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Others held signs calling for an assault weapons ban as well as tighter gun registration laws.
One lone gun rights advocate dressed as a burglar and quietly held a sign that read, "Let's All Give Up Our Guns -- You First."
A trio of songs were sung to guitar music during the half-hour ceremony. The names of the young Sandy Hook shooting victims were read at the end as a bell was rung in their memory.
Speakers also called for tighter gun control laws. Ellis Goldberg, president of the TriValley Democratic Club, told the group that guns should be treated like cars. They should be registered, the owners should have insurance and the places that sell them should be inspected, he said.
Goldberg said the Democratic Club of Contra Costa has endorsed the idea and it is now being presented to the state Legislature.
