Erica Lafferty does not want Congress to forget about her mom, the Sandy Hook Elementary School principal who was gunned down on Dec. 14 along with 20 children and five other educators.
The principal’s daughter took to social media to call out the 14 Republican senators who are threatening to filibuster the first major gun control legislation since the assault weapons ban was introduced in 1993.
On Tuesday, Erica Lafferty tweeted a photo of her sister kissing their mother, Dawn Hochsprung’s, cheek on the day of her wedding to every Republican senator who threatened to filibuster the gun control vote.
Hey, @mcconnellpress, here is a pic of my mom & sister on her wedding day. I don’t get that at my wedding in July twitter.com/E_Laffs2/statu…
— Erica Lafferty (@E_Laffs2) April 9, 2013
After failing to reach any of the senators by phone, Lafferty initiated a social media campaign and enlisted the public’s help to individually call out the legislators who have pledged to obstruct the upcoming vote. Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy sent out a series of tweets to those same legislators, urging them to return Lafferty’s calls.
.@senpatroberts Please call @e_laffs2 back. The families deserve to be heard, and they deserve a vote
— Governor Dan Malloy (@GovMalloyOffice) April 9, 2013
A few hours later, Lafferty persisted. She tweeted:
@marcorubio I’ll never see my mom again because she was gunned down in Sandy Hook. I don’t deserve to be heard? twitter.com/E_Laffs2/statu…
— Erica Lafferty (@E_Laffs2) April 9, 2013
Tweeting a photo of her mother holding her granddaughter for the first time, Lafferty directed the image at Senator Mike Crapo.
@mikecrapo My mom was gunned down @ Sandy Hook, Alyson will never know her Grandma. We dont deserve to be heard? twitter.com/E_Laffs2/statu…
— Erica Lafferty (@E_Laffs2) April 9, 2013
NBC Connecticut reports that one senator, Ted Cruz–a staunch Texan conservative who has publicly praised the Second Amendment–agreed to call her back, and had a 15- to 20-minute phone conversation with Lafferty Tuesday afternoon, according to a source.
Cruz, one of the original authors of the letter stating the Republican intent to filibuster, explained his reason for the filibuster.









