President Barack Obama addressed the student, faculty, staff, Connecticut and Federal
legislature, Sandy Hook guest crowd to push for “common sense” measures for Federal gun legislation.
University of Hartford hosted one of biggest events on campus Monday that got everyone on campus and the Hartford community excited and filled with school pride.
On Friday, April 5, students waited in line for hours in hopes to get tickets to see President Obama, which sold out in just 23 minutes, and again on Monday April 8 to get into the Sports Center.
In fact, so many people wanted to get in to see the President that 200 people with tickets were told they were unable to attend by the Secret Service and the Fire Marshall, after waiting in line for hours on Friday and again on Monday, which is an unfortunate blemish on an otherwise smooth event according to University President Walter Harrison.
The event began at 2:30 p.m. when people could begin to be seated in the Sports Center, which took about two hours total.
At 4:30 p.m. senior pastor of Newtown Congregational Church Rev. Matthew Crebbin performed an invocation for the event, mainly praying for the victims of Sandy Hook Elementary and hopes for future safety of our nation from guns.
Immediately after the prayer, Student Government President Maria Arroyo led the Pledge of Allegiance , followed by University of Hartford alumna Aja Wilson, who sang the national anthem.
Then the audience waited for an additional hour, with plenty of false applause alarms, for the President’s arrival. Around 5:15 p.m. Conn. Governor Dannel Malloy announced that the President was in the building and said how happy his was that Obama was coming to congratulate Connecticut’s on its new progressive gun laws.
Nicole and Ian Hockley introduced the President at 5:45 p.m. and told their story of the loss of their son Dylan, 6, in the Sandy Hook shooting.
After they finished, the 44th President Barack Obama stepped up to the podium to first thank Nicole and Ian and the University of Hartford for being there. He also thanked Conn. lawmakers for passing the new gun laws and our governor for signing the bill.
Everyone in the room was brimming with excitement and clapped so loud that it was hard to hear what the President was saying at many points during his speech. At various points during Obama’s 25 minute speech on pushing for new federal gun laws, students would say, “I love you Obama!” He responded with, “And I appreciate that.”
In his speech, Obama advocated the introduction of universal background checks in order to seal up current loopholes as part of “common sense” gun laws.
He said, “And every single one of those states — including here in Connecticut — decided that, yes, we can protect more of our citizens from gun violence while still protecting our Second Amendment rights. Those two things don’t contradict each other. (Applause.) We can pass common-sense laws that protect our kids and protect our rights.” He also said that he wants a ban on military style assault weapons and an increase in help available to mentally unstable people.
Obama’s parting words were, “So let’s do the right thing. Let’s do right by our kids. Let’s do right by these families. Let’s get this done. Connecticut, thank you. God bless you. God bless the United States of America.”