Dear John – 

Today marks eight years since the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

When the news broke on that Friday morning, I was serving jury duty. When the devastation of that day became clear, we were dismissed and I immediately returned to my classroom, where I knew my students would have questions, even though I didn’t have answers.

I will never forget how helpless I felt on that day.

As a mom, I was devastated thinking about the families and how their losses would reverberate through our community. As an educator, I was heartbroken for students and fellow teachers around the nation who were forced to rethink what classroom safety meant.

And as Americans, we said never again – yet, we did not change our federal laws. So today, as a lawmaker, I carry the knowledge that we have not done everything we can to prevent tragedies like Sandy Hook.

It is time to prioritize the lives and safety of America’s children, who deserve to feel safe at school and in their communities. We need to do more to address the epidemic of mass shootings, including finding bipartisan solutions to keep kids safe. We CAN fix this. We have to fix this.

We owe it to the 20 first-graders and six educators who lost their lives eight years ago. We owe it to their families and their communities to prevent the next tragedy before it happens.

Thank you for standing with me in the fight for a safer and better future.

With love and strength,

-- Jahana