DeLauro Brings Back Ethan’s Law To Congress

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro on Tuesday launched a new effort to pass legislation requiring that guns be locked up in homes with kids.

The measure, modeled after a Connecticut law, is named Ethan’s Law after Ethan Song of Guilford, who at age 15 accidentally killed himself in 2018 while playing with a gun owned by a friend’s father. The gun was not secured. 

Connecticut lawmakers responded to the shooting the following year by enacting requirements for the safe storage of firearms, and advocates have been pushing for a federal law as well.

“A child’s right to safety should not depend on a ZIP code,” said Ethan’s mother, Kristin Song, at a Capitol press conference alongside DeLauro; U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy; U.S. Rep. Jim Himes; and gun safety advocates. Blumenthal and Murphy are the lead sponsors in the Senate.

The gun used by Adam Lanza to kill his mother and then 26 students and adults at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown also was unsecured.

“Owning a gun comes with an obligation to protect children,” said Po Murray, chair of the Newtown Action Alliance. ​“We don’t have to accept this level of gun violence.”

For DeLauro, this is the fifth time she has introduced Ethan’s Law. It came close to success when it was part of the Protecting Our Kids Act, which passed the House in 2022 on an almost party-line vote but never was acted upon in the Senate.

“This is about children’s health and safety,” she said, 

The law would require gun owners to store their firearms in a ​“secure gun storage or safety device” if a minor could get the weapon without permission, or if a resident of the house can’t legally possess a firearm.

There also would be incentives for states to pass their own storage laws, as Connecticut did. 

DeLauro said that she will continue to push for the bill until it becomes law.

“Times change,” she said. ​“Members change. The environment changes. And you can pass laws you never thought you could.”

Blumenthal said that once-unthinkable changes eventually become law, like requiring seat belts in cars and banning smoking on airplanes and in restaurants.

“History shows reform takes time,” he said. ​“The focus right now is on Donald Trump. It’s hard to get people to focus on gun violence. But the work that these groups are doing is moving forward. …There comes a tipping point when the whole country comes together and says, ​‘Why hasn’t this happened?’”

Blumenthal said there are 4.6 million homes in the U.S. with loaded weapons that are unlocked. ​“They are suicides, gun deaths, gun injuries waiting to happen,” he said. 

Murphy said the Connecticut law showed that such safety measures work without infringing on gun rights. He said Connecticut had one-third the gun violence as other states with weak gun laws.

“We now have the benefit of experience to know that states that are smart about their gun laws save lives. We now have the experience to know when Congress gets serious about gun safety, we save lives,” Murphy said. ​“We respect the Second Amendment. We make sure that anybody who wants to buy a gun to protect themselves or hunt or shoot for sport can get one. But we have common sense restrictions. …Those common sense laws end up in thousands of lives being saved.”