The memory of Sandy Hook will always cast a shadow on Dec. 14. It was four years ago that Connecticut lived through that unspeakable horror, the day 20 beautiful children were taken from their families, along with six adults, all women. They were sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, wives and friends. Despite the healing balm of time, the grief endures.
But the anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings should also serve as an opportunity to recommit to making the world a better, safer place.
Another unbearable tragedy happened in June this year, when 49 people were shot to death and dozens more wounded by a man who opened fire with an assault rifle in a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla. It was the worst mass shooting in the nation’s history, made more deadly because of the weapon the shooter used.
In the days after the Orlando shooting, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., put on a 15-hour filibuster in an effort to encourage some very basic reforms to the nation’s gun safety laws. He spoke eloquently of Sandy Hook, recalling the last moments of those brave souls there.
Days later, in the House of Representatives, U.S. Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., teamed up with U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., to lead a sit-in that pushed those issues further into the national spotlight.
Those legislators honored the memories of all victims of gun violence by making it clear that they, along with a majority of Americans, support common-sense reforms that can make a real difference.
This year, more than 14,000 people have been killed by gunfire in the United States, not including suicides. Of those slain as of late Tuesday afternoon, 430 were killed in mass shooting incidents. It’s unforgivable that Congress hasn’t acted to stem gun violence when easy solutions are at hand.
Mass shootings would be less common — and less deadly — if the nation would enact an assault weapons ban similar to Connecticut’s, which was passed in the months after Sandy Hook. The Supreme Court has declined to hear a challenge to that law, which forbids the sale of many semiautomatic guns and high-capacity magazines.
The members of Congress in the nation’s capital who have tried to pass smart gun safety legislation should redouble their efforts. By supporting smart legislation, they can answer the question Mr. Murphy posed at the end of his June filibuster: “What can you do to make sure that Orlando, or Sandy Hook, never happens again?”
Mr. Murphy pushed for establishing a “No fly, no buy” policy that would limit the sales of guns to people on terrorist watch lists and advocated expanding background checks to gun shows and internet sales — simple steps that make a lot of sense.
The families of the victims of the Sandy Hook tragedy have created foundations to support arts, scientific research, education and safe schools initiatives to reduce gun violence, to provide scholarships for aspiring elementary school teachers, to battle classroom bullying and violence, and more.
They’ve done wonderful work, heeding the clarion call of “Love Wins” that sounded within days of Dec. 14, 2012.
In the names of all the victims — the children Charlotte Bacon, Daniel Barden, Olivia Engel, Josephine Gay, Dylan Hockley, Madeline Hsu, Catherine Hubbard, Chase Kowalski, Jesse Lewis, Ana Marquez-Greene, James Mattioli, Grace McDonnell, Emilie Parker, Jack Pinto, Noah Pozner, Caroline Previdi, Jessica Rekos, Avielle Richman, Benjamin Wheeler and Allison Wyatt, along with the adults Rachel D’Avino, Dawn Hochsprung, Anne Marie Murphy, Lauren Rousseau, Mary Sherlach and Victoria Soto — the representatives of the state where gun violence left an indelible mark must continue to work for change.
During the sit-in in the House in June, U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., said, “This is a moment for moral clarity and moral language.” For those who would see that love wins in the end, that moment is today and every day.