NEWTOWN, Conn. – Today, Sandy Hook Promise (SHP), the national organization led by family members whose loved ones were killed in the tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court informing a case challenging restrictions on semi-automatic rifles like the AR-15.
The brief brings families’ lived experience with mass school shootings into the Court’s consideration of how to balance the laws that protect the rights of those who own firearms with the shared responsibility to protect children from gun violence. SHP argues that this urgent question must be front and center in the nation’s Second Amendment conversations.
SHP’s brief highlights the real-world consequences of mass school shootings, including the devastating injuries that semi-automatic rifles can inflict in a short period of time. For that reason, the brief argues that states must retain the authority to enact and enforce laws that address the serious threats to public safety posed by semi-automatic rifles.
“Every child deserves to go to school, learn, laugh with their friends, and come home to have dinner with their family,” said Nicole Hockley, co-founder and CEO of Sandy Hook Promise and mother of Dylan who was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy. “I know firsthand the devastation a semi-automatic rifle can inflict in minutes on the bodies, hearts, and minds of children — and the families who love them. No family should have to live with that pain. As the Court considers this case, the consequences being experienced by children and communities cannot be an afterthought. They must be central to how we think about our children’s safety and the laws that should be there to protect them.”
The Sandy Hook tragedy demonstrates how a single day can forever change families’ lives. Nicole Hockley was looking forward to visiting her son Dylan’s classroom to make gingerbread houses. Daniel Barden was learning to play “Jingle Bells” with his father that morning. But they did not come home that afternoon after a shooter fired 154 bullets in four minutes, instantly killing them in their first-grade classrooms, along with 18 other children and six educators.
“It was never supposed to be a choice between honoring our Constitution and protecting our children,” said Mark Barden, co-founder of Sandy Hook Promise and father of Daniel, who was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy. “When my son and his classmates were killed, Connecticut acted and took the responsibility to pass laws that would protect the children of our state from a similar fate. The Court’s decision will have profound consequences for how states can continue to protect all children. We have a responsibility to value the safety of children as strongly as we value the right to bear arms.”
Children deserve to experience ordinary school days, and the chance to come home at the end of them. Sandy Hook Promise urges the U.S. Supreme Court to recognize that constitutional rights and the safety of children are not mutually exclusive, and that states must retain the authority to enact laws that keep their communities safe from mass school shootings.
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The Sandy Hook Promise Action Fund (SHPAF) is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization committed to protecting all children from gun violence in schools, homes, and communities. The SHP Action Fund advances a holistic policy platform that promotes gun safety, youth mental health, and violence prevention education. The organization works at the state and federal level to pass nonpartisan legislation through inclusive partnerships, diverse grassroots education, and community mobilization. It is part of Sandy Hook Promise, founded and led by several family members whose loved ones were killed in the tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012.
Media Contact:
Claudia Montecinos | [email protected] | 203-304-9780 Ext. 336