by Karla Ciaglo
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three days before the nation marks the 13th anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Connecticut’s congressional delegation gathered Thursday at the U.S. Capitol with survivors and families to deliver a reminder that more than a decade later, the United States remains gripped by a gun-violence crisis that lawmakers say is preventable but politically stalled.
The event followed Wednesday night’s National Vigil for All Victims of Gun Violence, where attendees honored the more than 1.3 million Americans killed or injured by firearms since 2012.
“We have a real movement,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-CT, said, thanking advocacy groups including Newtown Action Alliance, Moms Demand Action, Everytown, Brady and March for Our Lives. “In the 13 years since the Sandy Hook massacre, kids have grown up. A new generation of advocates has grown up, and they will carry the day.”
Blumenthal urged advocates not to give in to fatigue, criticizing the Trump administration for reducing enforcement of gun laws and creating what he described as a “Second Amendment section” inside the Civil Rights Division.
His comments follow recent Trump-era actions loosening federal enforcement, including the rollback of the ATF “zero-tolerance” policy for gun dealers and a broader review aimed at reversing several Biden-era firearm regulations.
Blumenthal said the delegation would continue pressing for federal reforms, including an assault-weapons ban, Ethan’s Law on safe storage, expanded background checks and ending liability immunity for gun manufacturers.
“Gun violence prevention will be on the ballot,” he said.
Fellow Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy pointed to the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act — the first major federal gun-safety law in 30 years — as evidence that congressional action can reduce violence.
“As soon as we passed that piece of legislation, gun violence rates in this country started to plummet,” he said.
Murphy noted Hartford had been on track for its lowest number of gun homicides in recent memory.
Police data shows that the city recorded 22 homicides in 2024, down from 36 the year before. As of late summer 2025, Hartford had reported about seven homicides, roughly half the number at the same point last year.
Still, Murphy said the law “wasn’t everything we wanted,” and national trends are troubling.
Roughly 125 Americans are shot and killed each day. Guns remain the leading cause of death for U.S. children and teenagers, and youth firearm deaths have more than doubled since 2013.
U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5th, a former Waterbury teacher, said the issue is “more than personal,” recalling years of teaching students who memorialized friends, neighbors and loved ones lost to gun violence. Hayes criticized colleagues who continue to resist even modest safety measures, including background checks, safe-storage requirements or efforts to collect basic data.
“Miss me with your thoughts and prayers. I don’t want to hear it anymore,” she said. “I don’t want to hear you go to the well and talk about how broken your community is if five minutes later you vote against the best interest of your community. Everything about this is political.”
She urged voters to demand action.
“Stop settling for survival. Stop settling for the bare minimum.”
Young survivors of gun violence delivered testimony, too. Miracle Anderson of New York, an ambassador for the Meezy Foundation who lost her father in 2019r at age two, spoke about the cost of gun violence.
“It’s sad not having a dad, but I am glad that he was a good person,” she said. “We work in our fathers’ foundation with our families so their names stay alive, so other kids don’t have to grow up like us. Congress needs to help make kids safe.”
Newtown High School student Joshua Chokbengboune, whose brother survived the Sandy Hook shooting as a first grader and whose father was a first responder that day, described the long-term trauma in his family. He spoke of watching his brother lose “the effortless joy kids are supposed to have.”
“I’m not asking, not suggesting, but demanding change, because no family should ever have to live through the trauma mine has,” he said. “No child should have to carry trauma heavier than their backpack, and no parent should have to fear that a normal school day could turn into their worst nightmare.”
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd, condemned inaction that she said contributed to more than 14,000 gun-related deaths this year.
Fourth District Democrat Jim Himes, a longtime gun-reform advocate, said efforts to pass federal legislation remain blocked by powerful forces.
“We are opposed by commercial interests with money, by ignorance, by fear of doing the right thing,” he said. “So we need you to steel our spine for the fight ahead.”The Connecticut lawmakers said federal action must keep pace with states like theirs, which maintain some of the strongest gun laws in the country. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Connecticut’s death rate by firearm, at 6.2 per 100,000, is the sixth lowest in the country. The state ranks behind Massachusetts (3.7), New Jersey (4.6), New York (4.7), Rhode Island (4.8) and Hawaii (4.9). Connecticut’s firearms mortality rate is about one-fourth of the states with the highest firearm mortality rates, New Mexico (25.3), Alabama (25.6), Louisiana (28.3), Mississippi (29.4), and the District of Columbia (30.6).
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