After Oregon School Shooting, Newtown Action Alliance Demands Congress Pass Ethan’s Law to Keep Guns Out of Children’s Hands
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 16, 2026
Contact: Info@newtownaction.org
After Oregon School Shooting, Newtown Action Alliance Demands Congress Pass Ethan’s Law to Keep Guns Out of Children’s Hands
Newtown, CT. — After three children, ages 5, 8 and 11, and a teacher were killed and two others critically injured yesterday at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, Newtown Action Alliance is calling on Congress to urgently pass Ethan’s Law (S.726 & H.R. 1564). Ethan’s Law establishes a federal safe storage requirement for guns kept on residential premises when a minor or prohibited person is likely to gain access without permission. The legislation addresses one of the most overlooked pathways to tragedy — unsecured guns in the home.
“Nearly 14 years after 20 children and six educators were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School, another community is facing the grief that we know all too well. For the families who sent their children to school expecting them to come home, life will never be the same,” said Po Murray, Chairwoman of Newtown Action Alliance. “The school doors were locked and police responded within four minutes. An armed community member stopped the shooter yet three children and a teacher are dead and two others are injured. We are grateful that someone intervened to stop further bloodshed but we cannot keep treating an armed response as our primary plan for protecting children. We should measure school safety by the shootings we prevent, not by how quickly someone with another gun can stop a shooter.”
According to the Associated Press, the 16-year-old shooter reportedly used a pump-action shotgun purchased by his mother. Investigators have not yet established how he obtained it or whether it was securely stored.
The connection between gun access and youth violence is well documented. According to the U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center, 76% of school shooters obtained their guns from their own home or from the homes of relatives. A new study shows approximately 6.7 million children in the United States live in homes with at least one loaded and unlocked gun, placing them at heightened risk of accidental shootings, suicides, school shootings, and other preventable tragedies.
“The question we must ask is how a 16-year-old got access to that gun in the first place,” said Kristin Song, an Advisory Board Member of Newtown Action Alliance who has led the national effort to pass Ethan’s Law after her 15-year-old son, Ethan, was killed with an unsecured gun at his friend’s home. “I know firsthand the devastating consequences when a gun that should have been securely stored is accessible to a child. We cannot bring back the children and teacher who were killed, but we can work to prevent other families from experiencing this heartbreak. We need one clear national standard: guns must be securely stored. Passing Ethan’s Law nationally can help create the cultural shift we need, so securing a gun becomes second nature, something responsible gun owners simply do every time.”
“For nearly 14 years, many survivors and advocates from Sandy Hook with a coalition of survivors from other communities, have been fighting to spare other families from unimaginable pain and trauma,” Murray added. “We should not have to keep explaining why prevention matters more than preparing children and teachers to survive another shooting. The families in Bend deserve answers and accountability and every child in America deserves the freedom to attend school without fear of gun violence.”
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Newtown Action Alliance ( www.newtownactionalliance.org ) is a Newtown-based, national grassroots organization formed after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Our mission is to achieve the steady and continuous reduction of gun violence through legislative and cultural changes.