Politics
President Obama promoting gun legislation in Connecticut
U.S. President Barack Obama with Vice President Joseph Biden and relatives of gun violence victims. PHOTO/Mark Wilson/Getty Images
President Barack Obama is providing rides to 11 relatives of those killed in the shooting at Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School so they can attend his gun control speech Monday before heading to Washington on Air Force One to personally encourage senators to back gun legislation that faces tough opposition.
After Obama’s speech in Hartford, relatives of seven children and one staffer killed during December’s massacre at the school will travel back to Washington with him, according to the nonprofit organization that works with the families, Sandy Hook Promise.
The White House says Obama is going to argue in his speech that lawmakers have an obligation to the children killed and other victims of gun violence to allow an up-or-down vote in the Senate, which would require 50 votes to pass, rather than use procedural maneuvers to require 60 votes, potentially sinking the legislation.
“Imagine what they would say to the families of victims in Newtown about why a certain measure never came to a vote because they filibustered it,’’ White House spokesman Jay Carney said ahead of Obama’s speech.
Gun legislation could come up for debate in the Senate this week as lawmakers return from spring break. The Sandy Hook families want to speak to senators who have not voiced support for the legislation, to ask for support in memory of their children and the school staff who were killed December 14. The White House offered to give the families a ride so they could also attend Obama’s speech before their lobbying push.
Sandy Hook Promise said in a statement, ‘‘The group is encouraging senators to come together around legislative proposals that will both save lives and respect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans.’’
In his speech Monday evening, Obama plans to invoke the memories of the 26 students and staff members killed. He is speaking at the University of Hartford, near the state capitol where last week the governor signed into law some of the nation’s strictest gun control laws with the Sandy Hook families standing behind him.
