Elizabeth Kane

My name is Kristin Song. On January 31, 2018, my son Ethan was shot in the head in his best friend's house. The father/gun owner stored 3 handguns and ammunition in a shoebox. Ethan's friend had been accessing the guns for over 6 months. At the hospital, the ER doctor slid down the wall, put his head in his hands, and whispered, "Your son is gone." At that instant, all I knew, loved and trusted was imploded into a million tiny pieces. I begged to say goodbye to my beautiful boy. I wanted to kiss his forehead, tell him how cherished he was, and tuck him in one last time. But the doctor begged me to remember Ethan as he was, you see, he was unrecognizable even to my eyes. The day before Thanksgiving in 2018, the prosecutor told me she would not charge the negligent gun owner, and if I wanted negligent gun owners to be held accountable, I would have to change the law. So I did. 6 months later, Connecticut passed Ethan's Law, which requires gun owners to secure their weapons if children can gain access. Then, I learned that so many states stood silent on this issue, so in 2019, I turned my attention to passing Ethan's Law nationally. I met with over 400 congressional offices, 130 of them Republican. In 2022, Ethan's Law was passed in the House of Representatives as part of the Safer Communities Act. Sadly, it was not picked up in the final package. When the Democrats lost the House of Representatives in 2023, I pivoted to passing safe gun storage laws in the States. As a result, Michigan, New Mexico, and Maryland passed safe storage laws. Currently, I am working with 5 states to pass Ethan's Law. I am emotionally and mentally exhausted, but I will not stop until there is a cultural shift in this country where it becomes second nature to secure your weapons around unsupervised children. If you believe in protecting children from gun violence, please follow and repost.

The mural at our Westchester Family YMCA is absolutely beautiful. Thank you to everyone who made this possible, including Y staff, board, retired Councilmember Mike Bonin, Westchester Rotary Club, the talented artist and those who contributed to this vision.