Daughter of slain Sandy Hook principal confronts Sen. Kelly Ayotte over gun safety vote
The daughter of the slain principal from Sandy Hook Elementary School confronted Sen. Kelly Ayotte today over Ayotte's vote opposing bipartisan gun safety legislation. Erica Lafferty questioned Ayotte during today's town hall meeting in Warren.
Politico reported on the encounter:
“You had mentioned that the burden to owners of gun stores that these expanded background checks would cause,” Lafferty said. “I’m just wondering why the burden of my mother being gunned down in the hall of her elementary school isn’t as important as that?” . . .
“Certainly let me just say that I obviously am so sorry – as everyone here is, no matter what our views are,” Ayotte said to Lafferty, the daughter of Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung. “I think that ultimately when we look at what happened in Sandy Hook … all of us want to make sure that doesn’t happen again,” Ayotte added, speaking slowly with her voice hoarse from a cold she’s been suffering.
Ayotte defended her vote, saying expanded background checks would not have prevented the Sandy Hook shootings. She repeated her call for taking action to address mental health issues and to keep guns away from the mentally ill.
Lafferty abruptly walked out of the meeting after Ayotte responded to her question, and accused Ayotte of not being forthright after the Republican initially based her opposition on the burden new background checks would cause.
“It’s disappointing and disgusting that she can pretty much look me in the eye and try to justify my mother’s murder and the murder of five other educators and the mothers of six and seven year olds,” Lafferty said in an interview. “It’s disgusting.”
