I would
like every parent in this country . . . I would like them to look in the
mirror. And that’s not a figure of
speech . . . I mean, literally find a mirror in your house and look in it and
look in your eyes and say, ‘This will never happen to me. This will never
happen in my school. This will never happen in my community.’ And see if you
actually believe that. And if there is a shadow, the slightest shadow of doubt
about what you’ve said, think about what you can do to change that in your
house, in your community, in your school, in your country, because we have an
obligation to our children to do this for them. It’s gonna happen again. It is
going to happen again. And every time, you know, it’s somebody else’s school,
it’s somebody else’s town. It’s somebody
else’s community. Until one day you wake up and it’s not. --David
Wheeler, interview with CBS News’ 60 Minutes
David Wheeler, the father who issued this heartfeltrequest, knows firsthand that no community, school, or parent in America cantruly believe their children are safe from our shameful national gun violenceepidemic. For David, his wife Francine,and their hometown of Newtown, Conn., December 14 was that “one day.” The Wheelers’ 6-year-old son Ben was killedin the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Now the Wheelers and otherfamily members of victims have joined with community members and supportersfrom around the country in the nonprofit organization Sandy Hook Promise tostand up and demand our nation do everything possible to prevent this fromhappening again. Let us say as they say: “I promise to honor the 26 lives lostat Sandy Hook Elementary School. I promise to do everything I can toencourage and support common sense solutions that make my community and ourcountry safer from similar acts of violence. I promise this time there will be change.”
Last week there was real change inConnecticut. Thanks to determined and strong bipartisan leadership and support,the General Assembly passed one of the nation's strongest state gun violenceprevention laws. How did this happen? The families from Sandy Hook were joined by a loud and persistent groundswellof advocates and other citizens from around the state demanding common sensesolutions and change. Gun advocates cameout in force, not surprising given that Colt,Mossberg, Stag Arms, and many other gun manufacturers are located in the stateof Connecticut. Last month, the Colt plant in Hartford closed down for the dayso employees could go to the Capitol to rally against gun safety measures. Butthoughtful and determined lawmakers kept their eye on child safety and parents,grandparents, faith leaders, and other child advocates refused to give up or bedrowned out.
To their great credit, Senate President Pro TemporeDonald E. Williams Jr., House Speaker Brendan Sharkey, and Senate and HouseMinority Leaders John McKinney and Lawrence Cafero Jr. earnestly negotiated forweeks to secure bipartisan support. Inthe end, 105 of 121 Democrats and 26 of 66 Republicans cast aye votes for thestrong provisions that genuinely honor the child and educator sacrifices ofSandy Hook and other children, teens, and adults who have died from guns acrosstheir state.
The new law requires background checks for all gun sales and strengthens theassault weapons ban by redefining an assault weapon to fix loopholes in thestate’s existing law and adding more than 100 guns to the list of bannedweapons. The sale or purchase of boththe weapon and the high-capacity ammunition clips used in the Sandy Hookmurders would be prohibited under this new law. The Sandy Hook shooter carried10 magazines with 30 bullets in each one into the elementary school. The new law prohibits the sale or purchase ofmagazines with more than 10 bullets. Gunowners who already own large capacity magazines are required to register themby January 2014 and are prohibited from loading them with more than 10 roundsoutside of a person’s home or a shooting range. The new law also bans the saleof armor piercing bullets which law enforcement agencies have long requested.
Connecticut went further by enacting new eligibilityrules for the purchase of rifles, shotguns, and ammunition, by strengtheningthe state’s safe storage requirement which already applied to storage of gunswith children in the home, and by increasing the penalties for illegal guntrafficking and possession.
And the new Connecticut law did not stop there. It specifically covers mental health andschool safety. By creating a task force to study Connecticut’s mental healthsystem focused on young people ages 16 to 25, improving commercial mentalhealth insurance coverage in the state, and offering support to pediatriciansto intervene with children with mental health challenges, the new law attemptsto expand mental health treatment for those in need and prevent problems from escalating.
Other provisions address safety in elementary,middle schools, and high schools as well as state colleges anduniversities. The law requires thedevelopment of school security and safety plans statewide by January 2014 andrequires school climate committees to investigate threatening and disturbingbehavior.
Connecticut is not alone in movingforward on gun safety. New York,Colorado, and Maryland have all passed new gun violence prevention legislationin the last four months. In each ofthese states, ordinary citizens have said nomore and lawmakers have displayed the courage to listen and lead. Now it’s time for Congress to lead for childrenand for all of us in every state -- not just some -- to demand action not obstructionand to put protection of child and citizen safety ahead of guns -- especially deadlyassault weapons and high capacity ammunition magazines that should not be incivilian hands.
The gun violence prevention bills pending inCongress deserve a vote. On Monday theSenate begins debate on a package of gun violence prevention measures and theyneed to hear from you to protect children, not guns. Please contact yoursenators now and tell them to followthe lead of Connecticut Democrats and Republicans in passing universal backgroundchecks, strong bans on assault weapons and ammunition magazines with more than10 bullets, and positive school safety measures.
Earlier this week when President Obama spoke at theUniversity of Hartford about reducing gun violence, he was introduced by NicoleHockley, whose 6-year-old son Dylan was killed at Sandy Hook. The president’s eyes welled up with tears ashe talked about her courage: “I’ve heardNicole talk about what her life has been like since Dylan was taken from her inDecember. And one thing she said struck me. She said, ‘Every night,I beg for him to come to me in my dreams so that I can see him again. Andduring the day, I just focus on what I need to do to honor him and makechange.’ Now, if Nicole can summon the courage to do that, how can therest of us do any less?”
This time there must be change.