President Barack Obama will be in Connecticut next week as he continues his national efforts to enact new, stricter gun control legislation.
The president will be at the University of Hartford on Monday, officials from the White House confirmed on Tuesday.
The Hartford Courant obtained a statement from the White House that states:
“On Monday, April 8, President Obama will travel to the University of Hartford where he will continue asking the American people to join him in calling on Congress to pass common-sense measures to reduce gun violence. Additional details on the President’s event at the University of Hartford will be forthcoming.”
Families of those killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in December are being invited to attend, the Associated Press reports.
In the days after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Obama visited Newtown, visited privately with the families of the 20 students and six educators killed and attended an interfaith vigil.
Then, he asked Vice President Joe Biden to lead a task force to come up with ways to reduce gun violence.
During a news conference about gun control, he said he has a painting by one of the victims, Grace McDonnell, in his private study and it stands as a reminder of that tragic December day.
“I hung it in my private study, just out of the Oval Office. And every time I look at that painting, I think about Grace, and I think about the life that she lived, and the life that lay ahead of her, and most of all, I think about how, when it comes to protecting the most vulnerable among us, we must act now – for Grace, for the 25 other innocent children and devoted educators who had so much left to give,” Obama said in January.
State and federal gun control proposals have been met with mixed reaction. Families of the victims have asked for strict regulations, particularly for guns with large-capacity magazines, while guns rights groups have said law-abiding citizens’ will be penalized.
Photo Credit: AP
