Greenwich Rallies for Gun Safety in Wake of Sandy Hook Shootings

More than 100 people came out to support Team 26 — the dedicated group of cyclists who stopped in Greenwich on Saturday as part of their 400-mile ride to Washington, DC where they hope to garner Congressional support for stricter gun safety laws including background checks for gun permit applicants and a ban on large capacity gun magazines.

The 26 riders represent each of the 26 students, teachers and administrators who were gunned down in Sandy Hook School in Newtown on Dec. 14, 2012.

The riders took off amid snow flurries in Newtown Saturday morning and pedaling at a rate of 18 mph, arrived in Greenwich shortly before 1 p.m. Saturday amid a blustery burst of snow. It’s the third annual ride covering 400 miles from Newtown to Washington D.C. with additional rallies in the five states along the route.

With a Greenwich Police motorcycle escort, the bikers arrived to a cheering crowd waving placards that read ‘Hugs not Slugs’ and ‘Enough.’ The crowd included of gun safety advocates and the founders and members of the Greenwich Council Against Gun Violence, the ENOUGH Campaign, the Brady Campaign Southwestern CT Chapter along with U.S. Rep. Jim Himes (D-4), Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman and local elected Democrats including Greenwich Board of Estimate and Taxation members John Blankley, Sean Goldrick and Jeff Ramer and Board of Education member Jennifer Dayton.

In addition to supporting federal legislation, local advocates are pressing for passage of state legislation that would allow judges to order the removal of guns from domestic violence abusers who are issued restraining orders from contacting their victims.

Given the frigid weather, the rally was moved indoors at Greenwich Town Hall.

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“We’re here today because even in Connecticut with one of the lowest gun death rates in the country, too many people are killed by guns including (Oxford resident) Lori Jackson who was shot to death by her abusive husband while under the protection of a restraining order,” said Jonathan Perloe of the Greenwich Council Against Gun Violence. “We’re here today to close that loophole that astoundingly lets abusers keep their guns.”

Team 26 organizer Monte Frank of Newtown said, “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.We are your bike messengers. We ride for you. We ride to make sure that the shootings that occurred in my town on 12/14 don’t fade into the national memory. We ride to honor them and all victims to gun violence — unite Americans in the movement to reduce the risk of gun violence.”

Frank added, “We will cross many bridges on this ride. Today we will cross the 149th Street bridge linking Newtown to Ridgefield to Greenwich to the Bronx to Harlem. We are all Newtown. We are all Hartford and New York City headed to Washington. We ride for James Brady so that his goal of universal background checks is achieved. These measures will save lives and do nothing to negatively impact the hunters or sportsmen of their Second Amendment rights as written or interpreted….Enough is enough, let’s be silent no more.

Frank also praised Wyman and Gov. Dannel Malloy for “keeping their promise to help Newtown rebuild and provide funding necessary to build a new Sandy Hook School.”

Wyman said that if anything good could come from the school massacre, “It’s what Team 26 is doing for us again. They’re out there spreading their word making sure that Washington listens, waking them up to the fact that every child, every person should be protected … from gun violence and guns being in the hands of the wrong people.”

Wyman added, “What you’re doing today is amazing to me — 18 miles an hour is unbelievable … we have more to do in the state and I know they will be big advocates for us in Washington ... we’ve got to spread the word to those other states that we’ve got to protect the people of this nation. We do not ever want to see in any state, in any place what we’ve seen here in Connecticut.”

Himes said, “I am always ambivalent about being here because I am a member of the institution that has been immobile …. and deaf to the cries that came out of Newtown.”

Himes, who rode with Team 26 from Newtown to Greenwich the previous two years, said, “This ride is a metaphor of what we need to do …. what we want is not that controversial. It’s not to take away Americans’ Second Amendment rights. It’s not to crimp hunting ….it’s very basic and the vast majority of Americans support it. We want to make sure that before you exercise your Second Amendment rights, you’re not a terrorist, you’re not a felon, you don’t have a history of violence. We want an acknowledgment that some weapons are built solely for the purpose of war and really have no place in our homes and on our streets. Pretty simple, common sensical stuff.”

Himes added he was naieve when he thought the Newtown shootings “would shake the marble foundations of Congress” but he added, it took six years for Congress to adopt the Brady bill following the 1982 assassination attempt of President Ronald Reagan.

Other speakers included Greenwich First Selectman Peter Tesei, Greenwich Council Against Gun Violence founder Liz Perry, Greenwich YWCA Director of Domestic Abuse Services Suzanne Adam, Rev. Maxwell Grant, Senior Minister at Second Congregational Church, and state Rep. William Tong (D-147) who is chairman of the state Assembly’s Judiciary Committee who chastised his fellow committee members for off-point questioning of gun safety advocates during last week’s committee hearing.

Also speaking was Stamford state Rep. Caroline Simmons (D-144) who was elected last November on a platform advocating gun safety reform.

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