An Appeal to Mrs. (Ethan) Song

EDITOR'S NOTE: Last week Patch printed an opinion piece from the mother of a Guilford teen who was killed by a gun at a neighbor's house while the two were playing with guns in January of 2018. In the piece, Kristin Song asked the Connecticut Citizens Defense League (CCDL) to partner with her and others to back a safe storage bill entitled "Ethan's Law."

Scott Wilson, the president of the CCDL has written a response to Patch. It appears below.

An Appeal to Mrs. Song

Let me first state my heartfelt sympathy for both Kristin and Mike Song. It seems unimaginable to lose a child in such a sudden and shocking manner. CCDL members are not heartless individuals and they were respectful as can be imagined while testifying on March 11th.

The letter that Kristin Song has published casts the members of our organization in a bad light. Kristin Song’s grief aside, members of the Connecticut Citizens Defense League (CCDL) took time off from work and time out of their lives so that they could attend a public hearing and state their opinions about gun safety, gun control and the unintended consequences that go along for the ride and directly impact gun owners.

We also have a right to have our voices heard, and though it may have been uncomfortable for Mrs. Song to endure some statements that might have been made, our members were attempting to bring some much-needed logic and solutions to the table in the hopes of preventing the next Ethan Song type of tragedy.

Kristin Song has insisted that gun owners be responsible; well by showing up and communicating with the Judiciary committee, we have offered solutions beyond the punitive measures that the legislation calls for, they have done exactly that.

Unfortunately for Ethan and other children, an important piece of the original Safe Storage Act which passed in 1990 was never implemented. The State Board of Education along with the Police Chief’s Association never developed the curriculum that they were tasked to create. The General Assembly at that time failed to mandate the development of school safety curriculum. Instead the language which passed and was signed stated that they simply “may” develop it.

Consequently, school aged children for nearly 30 years have lost out on having the benefit of what to do, or more importantly what not to do, should they find themselves in the presence of an unsecured firearm.

The proposal that CCDL has called for includes very basic safety education to be added to the bill as a preventative solution, and not merely a punitive one that will have no positive impact to avoid a gun accident.

Gun safety education is crucial to help teach young children the powerful and irreversible forces which occur when the trigger of a gun is pulled. While some may want to ignore this lesson for obvious reasons, we do not. We teach our children to not touch hot stoves, we do not pretend they do not exist.

We do not wish to go another 30 years without doing something meaningful that may stop harm from coming to children. Provide the education to school aged children.

While we can never fully understand the grief that Mrs. Song feels, a rational approach is still necessary to move forward in hopes of the best solution.

Our hearts go out to the Song family!

Scott Wilson – President

Connecticut Citizens Defense League