“In the five years since the shooting, which transformed a fairly anonymous Connecticut town into a buzzword in the caustic national debate on gun violence, armed men have killed people at a nightclub, an outdoor music festival, a social services center, movie theaters, a church in South Carolina and a church in Texas.

The displays of grief follow a familiar routine: Candlelight vigils and makeshift memorials. National offerings of thoughts and prayers. Pleas to tighten gun laws, immediately trailed by calls to avoid politicizing a tragedy” (Rojas and Kristin Hussey).

I applaud all those who let the devastating massacre of December 14th, 2012, be a marker for change. Those who pulled themselves together while reeling in unimaginable grief and created gun-sense organizations around our country, all with the aim to build bridges between the divides and to tackle the monumental epidemic of gun violence. Sadly, there is no end in sight for their tireless work in our country.

“We have no reasonable gun debate in this country. We have a group of people willing to put guns in the hands of children, of the emotionally and mentally disturbed, of people who have threatened their spouses and neighbors. We have people stockpiling weapons as if they are preparing for war. We have people carrying high-powered rifles to the supermarket as if they live in an unstable, war-torn nation. Now we have new federal legislation that allows people to bring concealed weapons across any state line”(Johnson).

To deny the progress, however incremental, would be an oversight. More people are talking. Many are gathered and marching. So many now stand together. You are still reading. There is that…

Charlotte Bacon. Rachel D’Avino. Daniel Barden. Olivia Engel. Josephine Gay. Ana Marquez-Greene. Madeleine F. Hsu. Dylan Hockley. Dawn Hochsprung. Catherine V. Hubbard. Chase Kowalski. Jesse Lewis. James Mattioli. Grace McDonnell. Emilie Parker. Anne Marie Murphy. Jack Pinto. Noah Pozner. Caroline Previdi. Lauren Rousseau. Jessica Rekos. Mary Sherlach. Avielle Richman. Benjamin Wheeler. Victoria Soto. Allison N. Wyatt. We light another candle on this tragic anniversary.

To all the brave souls who remember the innocent victims of gun violence by stepping forward in a multitude of ways with the hope of change, thank you.