SOUTHINGTON, CT (CNN/WTNH) -- Sandy Hook Elementary School students returned to the classroom Thursday at a school in a nearby town. Twenty students and six adults were slaughtered last month in a gun rampage at the school in the town of Sandy Hook, Connecticut.
Now there's an effort underway in Southington to address what some believe may be at the root of the massacre: violent video games. The community is taking a unique approach to the problem.
A group called Southington S.O.S., originally formed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, is now responding to the sandy hook tragedy with not a gun buyback, but a violent video game buyback.
In return, you get a gift certificate that might bring the family together. Dick Fortunato says, "They will get a certificate for a night of bowling, a certificate for a night to go out to dinner with their family, a certificate for Lake Compounce."
Group members say they claim no link between violent media and Sandy Hook, but certainly aren't hiding that the tragedy was a catalyst for their motivation. Charlie Cocuzza with Southington Chamber of Commerce says, "The use of violent video games does cause an increase in aggression, an increase in fear and anxiety and desensitization about acts of violence and those are proven facts."
They'll be collecting those materials between 9 a.m. And noon, Saturday, Jan. 12, at the Southington drive-in, Meriden/Waterbury Road, rain, snow, or shine, and perhaps best of all, they're not being too picky about what passes for violent. John Myers says, "We didn't want to be specific on what it is. If a family deems that it's violent or detrimental or leads to some sort of risky behavior, then that's fine."
Those who can't make it on Jan. 12 can turn in violent games, CD's and DVD's at the Southington Board of Education, the United Way, or the Chamber of Commerce.