Hayes’ arrival gives Dems the ‘chance to enact change’
Task force to push harder for gun control
WASHINGTON — Representative-elect Jahana Hayes will join the House Democrats’ Gun-Violence Prevention Task Force, which was formed in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass-shooting to lead House Democratic efforts on new gun laws.
Hayes’ arrival on the 145member body comes as its vicechair, Rep. Elizabeth Esty, is about to depart. A position on the task force is virtually a must for a House member representing the Newtown area. The mass shooting on Dec. 14, 2012, took the lives of 20 school children and six adult staff members.
“Communities across my district made it clear to me during the last election that they want reform of our gun laws,” said Hayes in a statement. “There are concrete steps we can take right now to make our cities and towns safer, and I can’t wait to work with my colleagues to make them a reality.”
Her joining the task force comes as Democrats take over the House for the first time in eight years.
Gun proposals such as expanded background checks and preventing suspected terrorist from purchasing weapons were stymied in the GOP House. A background-check bill died in the Democraticcontrolled Senate in 2013 when Democrats from Republican-leaning states voted with Republicans.
But Connecticut Democrats on Capitol Hill are expressing cautious optimism that prospects for new gun legislation are brighter than before. Not only is the House under Democratic control but Democrats defeated pro-gun Republicans in National Rifle Association strongholds such as Georgia, Florida and Texas — and even in Kansas and Oklahoma.
“Hold on to your horses,” Esty told an audience of activists assembled by Newtown Action Alliance last week. Newly empowered Democrats will push forward on issues such as permitting research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on gun violence, Esty said.
But Esty, who arrived on Capitol Hill in 2012, will miss the opportunity to serve Connecticut’s 5th Congressional District as a majority Democrat.
Esty dropped her re-election bid earlier
this year after revelations that she failed to promptly oust her D.C.-office chief of staff who was abusing a subordinate.
Hayes, who won the teacher-of-the-year award in 2016 for her work in Kennedy High School in her home town of Waterbury, upset the Democrats’ hand-picked candidate in the Democratic primary and went on to beat former Meriden Mayor Manny Santos in the general election last month.
Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., chair of the task force, suggested that Hayes’ inner-city Waterbury background gave her a deeper understanding of the issues surrounding easy availability of firearms.
“Jahana has seen first-hand the devastation gun violence has on a community,” Thompson said in a statement. “We have a chance to enact real change that will help keep our communities safe from gun violence and I am confident that her leadership and passion on this issue will only strengthen our ability to take action.”
At the meeting last week, Thompson praised Esty, his vice chair, as “an incredible partner” and a “great ally.” Esty received a standing ovation, mouthing the words “thank you, thank you” as the audience cheered and clapped.