President Joe Biden is scheduled to speak Friday at the University of Hartford, in celebration of what Sen. Chris Murphy called “the most significant change in federal gun laws in 30 years.”
“Today is a big deal because of what we are celebrating,” Murphy told the crowd. “Last year, this month, Congress passed the first major gun safety bill in 30 years, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.”
Before the event began, a crowd of several hundred activists from Connecticut Against Gun Violence, Moms Demand Action and other advocacy organizations gathered in the auditorium of the Lincoln Theater at the University of Hartford campus in West Hartford.
The audience was a kaleidoscope of red, blue, orange and purple shirts representing a coalition of gun safety groups: Red for Moms Demand Action, blue for March for Our Lives, orange for CT Against Gun Violence and purple for the Brady Campaign.
Security was heavy outside the the theater.
The National Safer Communities Summit, taking place at the University of Hartford, began at 9 a.m. with a welcome from Gov. Ned Lamont and Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, who provided an update on gun reform in Connecticut.
“We have success here in this state when it comes to reasonable smart, sane gun control laws because of you because of a movement because people stand up every day,” Lamont said, opening the event. “There’s more we could do to keep us safe, keep our communities safe, and I love the fact that Connecticut is a leader.”
“What we do here in Connecticut we can take around the country,” he said.
The bill Lamont signed this year bans open carry of firearms, strengthens gun storage regulations, further expands a ban on assault-style weapons and makes so-called unregistered “ghost guns.”
“These laws in Connecticut are keeping people safe. You look at the number of shootings, the number of murders, the number of suicides are way down in Connecticut compared to those states that are so permissive,” Lamont told the crowd.
After Lamont and Bronin, Murphy spoke about the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which Biden signed last year in the wake of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
“The NRA, the gun lobby, fought this bill tooth-and-nail. Every other gun rights group lobbied hard against it, but it still passed with broad bipartisan support,” Murphy said. “And that is an outcome that would have been inconceivable just a few years ago.”
Murphy said the BSCA has already had an effect, though he said it’s “early days.”
“All across the country, data from the first five months of 2023 shows that for the first time in a long time, gun violence rates in our biggest cities are falling,” he said. “We’re seeing trends heading in the right direction.”
Biden is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at approximately 2 p.m.
Other guests scheduled to attend include former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, Kansas City, Miss. Mayor Quinton Lucas, Georgia Sen. Lucy McBath, attorneys general from New Jersey and Minnesota, as well as Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, Gov. Ned Lamont, Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, Sandy Hook parent Nicole Hockley and Connecticut native U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona.
Nelba Marquez-Greene, whose daughter, Ana Grace, died at Sandy Hook, told the audience that she almost did not attend the summit.
“My identity is reduced to three words: Sandy Hook mom, and it’s why I almost didn’t come,” she said, before leading the audience in a moment of silence. “Survivors deserve so much more than exploitation and super hero capes.”
Following the summit, Biden is expected to be in Greenwich for a $25,000-a-head fundraiser, which Lamont is also expected to attend.
This story will be updated throughout the day as the summit continues. Check back later for updates.
Hearst Connecticut Media Group reporters Rob Ryser, John Moritz and Ken Dixon contributed to this report.