Dear Friends,

Eleven years ago, twenty-six people, including twenty first graders – children who today would be in their senior year of high school – were murdered in a mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary. That day changed Connecticut, and this country, forever.

The epidemic of gun violence is a uniquely hideous, uniquely American problem. What’s worse is that it’s a solvable one, and yet Congress remained immobile in the face of unconscionable tragedy. For close to a decade, I thought there was no way to make progress on gun safety at the federal level, despite significant reforms in many states including Connecticut.

That changed a year ago when we passed the first significant federal gun safety bill in nearly thirty years: the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. While there is still work to be done, this commonsense legislation was a meaningful step towards protecting our communities.

The credit for this historic legislation falls squarely with the gun violence prevention advocates, many of whom are families of those killed at Sandy Hook. They have done the unimaginable by molding their grief and pain into change that has saved American lives. We honor their bravery through recommitting ourselves to fighting for the policies that we know will end this carnage.

Today, eleven years after the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the overwhelming grief I felt that day remains with me, as does my steadfast determination to help end the epidemic of gun violence in our country.

Sincerely,

Jim