NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The champions of a state law, known as Ethan's Law, which requires safe storage of guns in homes where children live, are now hoping lawmakers in Washington, DC will make it federal law.
Kristin and Mike Song, whose son Ethan, a high school freshman, accidentally shot himself to death playing with a gun at a friend's house in 2018, were in New Haven Monday talking about Kristin testifying before a Senate subcommittee Tuesday.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D - Connecticut), who chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on The Constitution, will conduct the hearing on safe firearms storage.
The Safe Gun Storage Act would direct the Consumer Product Safety Commission to establish federal safety standards for firearms locks and safes.
"Literally every day in America eight children will be killed or injured as a result of an unsafely stored gun," Blumenthal said.
It's already law in Connecticut. Ethan's Law.
"One of the things that I did at the public hearing for Ethan‘s Law is I spoke in Ethan‘s voice," said Kristin.
His mother remembers vividly Ethan expressing his excitement for having gotten his braces off just hours before his accidental death.
"Parents came up to me and said I just want to thank you, your son protected me from the lacrosse bully or thank you, my son never had anyone to sit with that lunch and your son would come and gather him up every day," said an emotional Kristin Song. "You know that was the kind of kid Ethan was."
That measure won bipartisan support in the Connecticut General Assembly.
"Kids around, lock guns down," said Mike, when describing the motto of Ethan's Law.
Mike Song showed just how easily and quickly a secure storage safe can be opened.
"So, to any of my colleagues who say it’s an unfair burden, it will deny people access to self-defense, come to the hearing," Blumenthal said.
"Guns locked down, no Parkland," Mike said. "Guns locked down, Ethan Song graduates from high school."
Senator Blumenthal says 40% of all households in the U.S. that have guns do not have them stored safely.
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