After an ugly decade of continued mass shootings across the nation, President Biden will gather with Sandy Hook families, senators, mayors, and activists in Connecticut Friday to highlight what they have achieved to increase gun safety.

"It will be a moment to mourn those we have lost, celebrate all we have accomplished, and plan for our next victories,'' U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy said of the day-long National Safer Communities Summit at the University of Hartford. The event commemorates the first anniversary of the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which expands mental health services and provides more support for safer schools.

Biden is scheduled to deliver the keynote address Friday at the summit. Registration is closed.

Other guests scheduled to attend include former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, Kansas City, Miss. Mayor Quinton Lucas, Georgia Sen. Lucy McBath, attorneys general from New Jersey and Minnesota, as well as Murphy and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Gov. Ned Lamont, Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, Sandy Hook parent Nicole Hockley and Connecticut native U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona.

“We are incredibly honored to welcome President Biden to the University of Hartford,” said University of Hartford Acting President Stephen Mulready in a release.

Cardona, Giffords, and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison will also deliver keynote addresses. Murphy is scheduled to open the summit, following a welcome from Lamont and Bronin.

Sandy Hook parent Nelba Marquez-Green, whose daughter Ana was killed at Sandy Hook, will deliver remarks as a survivor of gun violence, and lead a moment of silence. 

Giffords became an advocate against gun violence after she was shot in the head by a gunman during a constituent event in 2011. 

Hockley, whose son Dylan was killed in the massacre at Sandy Hook, will participate in a panel discussion on the funding impact of the safer communities act. Hokley is CEO of gun reform advocacy organization Sand Hook Promise. 

The Friday event is being presented by the University of Hartford, Giffords, Everytown for Gun Safety and its associated organizations, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action. Though the event is open to the public, the audience has reportedly reached capacity and registration has closed. 

Former President Barack Obama also visited the University of Hartford, speaking in 2013 on the issue of gun violence. During that speech, Obama referenced the tragedy at Sandy Hook, which had happened about six months earlier.

Obama also embraced Dylan Hockley's father Ian Hockley,

"Newtown, we want you to know that we’re here with you," Obama said in 2013. "We will not walk away from the promises we’ve made. We are as determined as ever to do what must be done. In fact, I’m here to ask you to help me show that we can get it done. We’re not forgetting."