On Friday, demonstrators gathered in front of Colt Manufacturing’s West Hartford headquarters to voice their displeasure with the U.S. Senate’s failure to pass a resolution that would have prevented the company from selling guns to Israel.
Local activists oppose Colt’s manufacturing role every Friday, and this demonstration is part of their campaign.
Bianca Zerio and her daughter, age four, demonstrated outside the building. For weeks, Zerio and her daughter have been joining the group’s Friday rallies.
According to Zerio, it’s critical to teach children to be nice by example and to hear things rather than just see action.
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont filed a number of joint resolutions of disapproval, including Resolution 41, to stop arms sales to Israel.
The goal of this specific resolution was to prevent the sale of 20,000 Colt M4 automatic rifles that were produced at the Colt factory in Connecticut.
Eamon Ormseth, a protester, says he has no plans to stop rallying anytime soon.
The leaders of our nation, the leaders of coal, the leaders of Israel, and the people in power must understand that we are not leaving,” Ormset stated. “People, the Israeli army is shooting our children in Gaza as they attempt to obtain food, causing them to starve to death.” Additionally, some of those firearms are manufactured in West Hartford.
The resolution was the first to receive a majority of Democratic senators’ votes, including one from Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, even though it failed late Wednesday night. Murphy has recently spoken his opinions on the matter as a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“Anyone with a conscience is shocked by the pictures of children dying from starvation as a famine rages across Gaza,” Murphy said in a statement. “The situation is completely untenable, and I believe the United States cannot continue to militarily support the Netanyahu government so long as it is refusing to take the necessary steps to urgently alleviate this crisis.”
The senators from Connecticut disagreed, with Blumenthal voting against the proposed restriction on the sale of firearms. Blumenthal was one of 27 Democrats who voted in favor of the motion, while 17 others voted against it.
Activists promise to keep protesting Colt despite the Senate loss, meeting once a week until the business stops providing Israel with weapons.
