Sandy Hook Parent Mark Barden Says He ‘Connected as Dads’ With President Biden Over Gun Control After Son Daniel’s Death (Exclusive)

As Sandy Hook parent Mark Barden continues his quest for gun safety in the United States, he remains grateful for the support President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama have provided him during his fight.

More than 11 years after his then 7-year-old son Daniel Barden was shot and killed at his elementary school in Newtown, Conn., the elder Barden says he still remembers the call his family received from Biden following the mass shooting.  

"I first met President Biden when he was Vice President Biden," he exclusively shared with The Messenger ahead of the premiere of his new documentary A Father's Promise. "He called our house in the early days when we were still managing the freshness and the rawness of this tragedy and he and I spoke for close to two hours. We just connected as dads, as devoted husbands and devoted fathers and grappling with the most profound loss."

What started as a phone call turned into advocacy work with Barden and other Sandy Hook families pushing for stricter gun laws throughout the nation. 

In April 2013, the Senate defeated a bi-partisan measure to expand background checks for gun sales. 

To this day, Barden remembers speaking in the Rose Garden of the White House and feeling the support of Biden and Obama.

"When we met in the Oval Office before coming out to the Rose Garden to do that announcement, [Biden] was very candid and transparent with his frustration and his anger," Barden recalled. "I shared when he came to speak at our 10-year remembrance last year, which is also in the documentary, that I look forward to the day that we could meet when one of us or both of us weren't either angry or crying or both. It's been quite a journey."

While Barden admits it can be "very discouraging" when Congress and other elected leaders choose not to pass legislation Sandy Hook families support, he will continue his fight in honor of his son Daniel. 

"We continue to work on it in a bipartisan way, framing everything that we do with, 'Let's all agree that we want to protect our kids and let's move forward from there,'" he said. "There is hope that we can continue to do something and if we have recalcitrant leaders in Congress, that we have to just continue to do the work with or without them."

In the new documentary A Father's Promise, director Rick Korn and executive producer Sheryl Crow help tell the story of Barden after his life changed instantly when his son was murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary. 

After the loss of his son, Barden lost all interest in music and vowed to do everything in his power to help prevent gun violence. The film follows Barden as he turns his tragedy into activism and in doing so, rediscovers his lost passion for music. 

"Like anyone who meets Mark, you want to help him," Korn shared with The Messenger. "The film was really going to be about the healing power of music and following Mark's journey through that, but it turned into so much more than that."

A Father's Promise will have its world premiere and open theatrically Dec. 8 at Look Cinemas in New York. Additional cities are expected to follow.