Sandy Hook Parents Join Lawmakers in Renewed Call for Gun Regulations

Outside the New Haven Police Department on Friday morning, there was a renewed push for Congress to pass new gun control measures following the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history on the Las Vegas strip.

Dozens of activists and parents who have lost children to gun violence, including at Sandy Hook Elementary School, listened to members of Connecticut’s congressional delegation lay out steps they think can reduce gun violence, save lives and prevent the next mass shooting.

"Of course it triggers and brings me right back to the day that I lost my little Daniel at Sandy Hook Elementary School," said Mark Barden, who brought a picture of his son with him to the news conference.

For Barden and Nicole Hockley, this week’s mass shooting at the country music concert across from the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino brings back difficult memories from nearly five years ago.

"I remember this first week so well," Hockley told NBC Connecticut. "I just wish I could wrap my arms around all of them. I wish I could help them through this in any way shape or form."

While the National Rifle Association (NRA) announced it supports new rules on bump stocks, the accessory that enabled the Vegas shooter to fire more rapidly, Senator Richard Blumenthal said that is not enough.

"There must be a ban on bump stocks," he said. "People in Las Vegas might well be alive today."

Connecticut’s U.S. senators and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro from New Haven said they will fight for universal background checks, including fixing the loophole that allowed the Charleston church shooter to purchase guns.

"The NRA’s argument that laws don’t save lives is a total fiction," Senator Chris Murphy said. "I mean there you have it right on that placard, Connecticut has the second strongest gun laws in the nation and we have the fifth lowest rate of gun deaths."

Blumenthal has introduced legislation to repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which shields gun manufacturers from liability in court cases like the Sandy Hook families’ negligent entrustment lawsuit.

"The Sandy Hook families are in court today with a lawsuit," Blumenthal said. "But have been denied justice because of that statute."

"I just want to make people aware that the gun industry enjoys this unique immunity to a civil liability at the same time they are manufacturing the single most deadly consumer product known to man," Barden told NBC Connecticut.

While Police Chief Anthony Campbell credits targeted enforcement for lowering the number of shootings in New Haven, he shared with NBC Connecticut one of his biggest concerns.

"We constantly whether on raids or just everyday arrests encounter people who have significant firepower," Campbell said.

Part of the backdrop to the news conference was a banner with messages of love that the Newtown Action Alliance is sending to Las Vegas.

"I don’t think it’s any surprise to anyone that the style of gun that the shooter used in Las Vegas was very similar to the sort of gun we are fighting against in terms of how do you sell these things, how do your market these things," Hockley said.

Hockley added any effort to regulate or ban bump stocks is "a very small band-aid on what’s a significantly bigger problem."

Unlike the NRA, the lobby group Gun Owners of America is taking a strong stand against new bump stock rules, saying criminals will ignore them.

Senators Blumenthal and Murphy told the dozens gathered at NHPD that public pressure is starting to break the grip the NRA and the gun lobby has on Congress.

"We do not suffer from a deficit of compassion in this country," Murphy said. "We suffer from a deficit of action and you by continuing to organize will demand that action."

Contact Us