Grieving father hails House passage of background check bills
NEWTOWN – An emotional father who lost his son in the Sandy Hook massacre praised this week’s passage of two firearms background check bills in the House of Representatives during a livestreamed virtual march.
“The pain my family continues to endure since Daniel was shot to death is impossible to comprehend unless you too have lost someone precious to gun violence, as so many have,” said Mark Barden, a cofounder and managing director of the homegrown nonprofit Sandy Hook Promise.
“We are committed to sparing other families the neverending pain of losing a loved one to preventable gun violence, and to seeing this lifesaving legislation across the finish line and finally become the law of the land.”
Wednesday’s passage in the House of a bill requiring background checks for gun shows and for online sales, and a bill closing a loophole allowing a firearms dealer to sell a gun to a customer if the background check is not completed within three days clears the way for the Senate to vote on the legislation.
Gun industry advocates, including the Newtownbased National Shooting Sports Foundation, oppose the legislation, calling it unnecessary, unworkable and an undue burden on law-abiding gun owners.
Sen. Chris Murphy, who introduced legislation in the Senate with 43 colleagues, including Sen. Richard Blumenthal, predicted Democrats had enough votes to send the bills to the White House.
“We are going to present this to a president who has a history of taking on and beating the NRA,” Murphy said during Wednesday’s virtual march.
Blumenthal said the bills were supported by 90 percent of Americans.
“In Connecticut, we have some of the strongest gun laws in the country, but we are only as strong in our gun violence prevention laws as the weakest state because guns have no respect for state boundaries,” Blumenthal said. “The rule should be across this great country ‘no check, no sale.’”
U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes agreed.
“In order to own a gun, you should have to pass a background check, regardless of where you purchased the gun,” Hayes said in a prepared statement after her vote.
“I would once again like to thank the incredible advocates in my district and across the state of Connecticut who have worked tirelessly to advance common sense proposals like these bills. I look forward to this vital legislation passing the Senate and being presented to the President for his signature.”
Barden said the passage of the bill felt like a personal victory.
“This is a wonderful day of forward motion,” he said.