Seven years ago today what should have been unimaginable happened: 20 children and six educators were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
More unimaginable is that in the years since December 14, 2012 the cries of “never again” and “not one more” have gone unheeded by the legislators in Congress who are beholden to the gun lobby.
More than 700,000 Americans have been killed or injured by gun violence in that time—most of them victims of community violence, domestic violence and firearm suicide. The crisis is so pervasive that our children are known as the “lockdown generation.”
The absence of federal gun law reform, despite the passion and leadership of legislators like those in Connecticut’s Congressional delegation, does not render us powerless. We must remember that even while the stalemate continues in Congress, each of us has the power to create change, especially at the state level. With the hard work of so many of you, that’s what CT Against Gun Violence achieved in Connecticut, passing some of the strongest gun laws, and giving us one of the lowest gun death rates, in the nation. With your continued support, that’s what we will continue to do until we end gun violence in Connecticut.
We must not just grieve for the victims of gun violence; we must honor their lives with action. Let us mourn today, and tomorrow return to our work of being the change we want to see in the world.
Jeremy Stein is Executive Director of CT Against Gun Violence.
SB1160 was an emotional tantrum by legislators and activists which did more to promote the sale of semi automatic rifles into our communities than any gun manufacturer could have done with a multi-million dollar marketing and advertising budget. You’re patting yourself on the back for this? Sandy Hook was a tragedy of unspeakable horror, the response should have been thoughtful, inclusive and taken into account the possible outcomes as a result of any ill conceived measures. Unfortunately that was not the approach taken.
While I feel very much empathy for these parents, what law would have prevented this attack by a deranged individual? The guns he used were bought legally? Whether you agree that semiautomatic weapon should not be sold, this is not the case for this instance because the mentally deficient individual was allowed access based on a professional opinion that teaching this sick individual about guns was a good thing. HIPA laws prevent all of the background, but nobody remembers the first death was his mother, who was bringing him to the range as a bonding therapy. Once all the lawsuits are done we will learn that a mentally challenged individual that was identified with anger and parental control issues was encouraged to use guns. Blame all the gun manufacturers you want, but none of them could have prevented this tragedy.
Simply put… None of the newly enacted laws would have prevented the tragedy 7 years ago… And very little has changed in regard to mental health issues. Meanwhile 2 large business have been run out of CT to relocate elsewhere and… The average law abiding gun owner has been forced to jump thru many more hoops just to exercise their second admendment rights!
Too bad CT’s gun homicide rate (2.7) is not as low as Vermont’s (0.3) or New Hampshire’s (0.4). At least we are no where near as bad as DC (16.5). I wonder what gun laws each of these state’s has.