Newtown mom's plea: Don't let "our tragedy" become "your tragedy"

They say all politics is personal. For Francine Wheeler, the political debate on gun control has become more personal than many could ever fathom.

Wheeler, whose son Ben was among the 20 children killed during the December massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., delivered the president's weekly address on Saturday, calling on the American people to demand action on gun reform "before our tragedy becomes your tragedy."

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In remarks that she wrote along with her husband David, Wheeler explained, "Our younger son Ben, age six, was murdered in his first grade classroom on December 14, exactly four months ago this weekend."

"Irrepressibly bright and spirited, Ben experienced life at full tilt," she said. "Until that morning. 20 of our children and six of our educators - gone, out of the blue."

Wheeler was among the 12 family members of Newtown victims who fanned out across Capitol Hill this week, pressing wavering legislators to support a bill, currently under consideration in the Senate, that would expand background checks for gun purchases and stiffen penalties for illegal gun trafficking.

In her address, which marked the first time a non-administration official delivered the weekly address during President Obama's tenure, she made it clear that she and the rest of the families will not rest until they achieve some measure of reform. "I've heard people say that the tidal wave of anguish our country felt" after Newtown "has receded," she said. "But not for us. To us, it feels as if it happened just yesterday."

"Please help us do something before our tragedy becomes your tragedy," she pleaded. "We have to convince the Senate to come together and pass common sense gun responsibility reforms that will make our communities safer and prevent more tragedies like the one we never thought would happen to us."

After President Obama visited Connecticut on Monday to continue making the case for his proposals to reduce gun violence, he invited several family members of Newtown victims to accompany him on Air Force One during his return trip to Washington, D.C.

As Wheeler was preparing to depart with the president on Monday, she said, "it looked like the Senate might not act at all. Then, after the President spoke in Hartford, and a dozen of us met with senators to share our stories, more than two-thirds of the Senate voted to move forward."

On Thursday, the Senate officially began consideration of the first gun control bill introduced in Congress since the tragedy in Newtown. The bill, which expands background checks, strengthens school safety procedures and cracks down on illegal firearm trafficking, was given a late assist on Wednesday when Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Pat Toomey, R-Pa., announced a compromise that would exempt guns transferred between friends and family from the background check requirement and ensure that gun dealers - not the government - would be responsible for compiling sales records.

The senators' breakthrough was a welcome sign of progress for advocates of gun control like Wheeler, but she noted, "That's only the start. They haven't passed any bills that will keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people, and a lot of people are fighting to make sure they never do."

No date has been set for a final vote on the legislation, and a number of amendments must be considered before the bill can formally clear the Senate. If it manages to pass, an entirely new, arguably more treacherous path awaits the proposal in the Republican-controlled House, which has demonstrated a scarce appetite for stronger restrictions on gun ownership in America.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said this week that he anticipates the House will act "in some way, shape, or form" on gun laws, but added that it would be "irresponsible" to comment on the Senate proposal until he sees final legislative language.

On Tuesday, Congress will again be reminded of toll exacted by gun violence when former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., who was shot in the head during a 2011 shooting in Tucson that nearly killed her and claimed the lives of six others, participate in the dedication of a room in the U.S. Capitol to Gabe Zimmerman, a staffer of hers who was killed during the shooting.

Giffords will also press legislators to support the expansion of background checks currently under debate in the Senate.

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Gun control proponents' willingness to embrace the public advocacy of Giffords and the Newtown families has been criticized in some quarters as a politicization of tragedy, but Wheeler made clear during her address that she simply did not have much choice.

"Sometimes, I close my eyes and all I can remember is that awful day, waiting at the Sandy Hook Volunteer Firehouse for the boy would never come home," she said. "But other times, I feel Ben's presence filling me with courage for what I have to do - for him and all the others taken from us so violently and too soon."