AMARILLO, TEXAS -- The nation has been in shock since Saturday, when a man decided to open fire on a crowd of people in Tucson, Arizona.
Six were killed and 14 were wounded, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
It is one of those events that has brought communities across the nation together.
Life-altering events always seem to bring people together.
The case of the Tucson shooting certainly has that effect.
Many people gathered at Amarillo College to pay tribute to those who fell victim on that fateful day.
"What a great time to come together and to express our concern, to cry together, to talk about what's happened in the world and what is happening. And so I think it's a great event, and it was a healing event for me," said Debra McCartt, Amarillo Mayor.
But how how can we as Americans act to prevent a tragedy like this from happening again and still exercise our first amendment rights?
"It's ok to disagree with one another, it's even ok to dislike one another, what's not moral, what's not civil is to act in violence against one another," said Davis Green, Amarillo Unitarian Univerasalist Fellowship Minister.
After the pledge of allegiance and a song about coming together, the night concluded with people slowly trickling out with a new sense of patriotism and purpose.
