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Larson and Hartford Activist Call for Gun Reforms at National Speak Out

July 15, 2016

Washington – Last night, Rep. John B. Larson (CT-01) invited Mrs. Henrietta Beckman of Hartford’s North End to join him for a national speak out on gun violence. Mrs. Beckman’s son, Randy Beckman, was shot and killed in Hartford in 2002. Since his death, Mrs. Beckman has become a passionate community activist. She currently serves as president of Mothers United Against Violence, where she has pressed for action to address our nation’s gun violence epidemic. Last night, she and Larson addressed a crowd gathered at the steps of the Capitol to call on Congress to do its job and pass commonsense reforms.

"When they asked us why we sat down, it was so America would stand up to the senseless violence that's cast a plague over this nation," Larson said to the crowd. "Henrietta Beckman lost her son, Randy. She--like everybody else here--carries in her heart that unrelenting love that demands not only that we sit down, but that we speak out and that Congress does its job. [Speaker Ryan and Republican Leadership] may leave today, but this issue is not going away and neither are we."

"There is no pain like the pain of a mother who loses a child," Mrs. Beckman said in her remarks. "We should not be burying our children. Our children should have long lives, because that's the way God planned it. Randy was 20 years old when he was shot. He was just around the corner, sitting in his car, minding his own business when an SUV pulled up. I was still at work, but I was told the person got out of the car, they had some words, and they shot my son in the head. I stayed in that hospital for three days and hoped, hoped he would make it through. So on that fourth day when they knocked on the window of the waiting room and said, 'We lost him....' It's been 14 years since my son got shot, but as you can see, the pain never, ever goes away. And for it to still be continuing today... Young people keep losing their lives to guns. When are we going to wake up and stand up?"

The ‘Lighting the Way’ National Speak Out was organized by join Assistant Leader James E. Clyburn (SC-06), Rep. John Lewis (GA-05), the Congressional Black Caucus and members of the House Democratic Caucus.

Last month, Larson hosted a Call to Action on Gun Violence Prevention with community leaders across Hartford, including Mrs. Beckman.

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