LIVE: Lawmakers, gun violence survivors mark Sandy Hook anniversary

Tommy's mom, right here. Get that picture. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Hold this child. I gave birth to this baby. Hold my baby up. Yeah. Look. Hold that baby up. I work for him. Thank you, George. Thank you, George. Thank you, George. The senators and our great congressional leaders are showing up for the press conference. And I want to invite the survivors and the young people with the photos to come stand against the wall. Yeah. So, I invite all the survivors to join us back here. I'm going to stand behind the speakers. Yeah. Against the wall. Yeah. Make room for the... Oh, you're still going to take pictures? We just need some room for the speakers, so you might want to back up a little bit against the wall. Maybe we can move that table. Is there a table right there? Okay. Should we move that table? All right. Garnell's moving that table. Okay. Yep. We just need to make some room right here for all the speakers. Yeah. So, we got to make some... Yeah. We need probably a little more room, so if you guys can take a step to the left. Left? Yep. Step to the left. Step to the left. And maybe step to the right a little bit. Yeah. Step to the right a little bit. There you go. Yeah. Yeah. It's not going to take that long. But we need to make a little more room for the speakers, so everybody step to the right and step to the left. They're coming. There's going to be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 speakers. So, we need to make room for 9 speakers right here. Yeah. So, if you guys can shift that way a little bit more. Yeah. Do a line dance. Good job. Where are you from? Illinois. Thank you for coming. Yeah. Thank you. Good morning. Is everybody here? I don't know. They told me to come up here. Welcome, everyone. I'm really proud to be with my colleagues from Connecticut, but most important with all of you who know firsthand the agony and grief of gun violence. And every time I see these pictures, I am just so struck by your courage and strength to be with us as you do consistently. Last night I was at the vigil, and I have to admit there are moments and days when I lose hope. I think all of us go through that feeling. But your being here and last night at the vigil were energizing and inspiring, and we are not giving up. We are not going away. We are not abandoning gun violence prevention. And as Fred Guttenberg said last night, we're going to make trouble, good trouble. Good trouble. There is no way that we are surrendering to gun violence in this country. And we know, we know not only in our hearts and our minds, but from evidence, real hard evidence that these measures work. They save lives. In Connecticut, we have the strongest gun violence measures in the country, and they work. They save lives. We have the evidence that they do. And the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, we know, is working and saving lives. I give a lot of credit to my colleague Chris Murphy, who will talk right after I do, for that measure. But we are united in our determination to move forward on measures that, quite honestly, nobody should be against. Background check. To stop dangerous people from having guns. Red flag statue. Red states, blue states, have them now. They save lives. Ghost gun bans. I authored a ghost gun ban this year. Ghost guns are killing people, as we know from our most recent experience, just within the last few days. Made on a kitchen table, from a kit, or on a 3D printer, untraceable, no check whatsoever. Ghost guns are the biggest emerging threat on gun violence. Ask police. Ask the cops what they fear. Ghost guns at crime scenes. And repealing PLACA. We know that gun manufacturers will be deterred if they are made to pay, if they are held accountable. We need to continue breaking the grip of the gun lobby, as we are doing. Continuing the movement that we have started. All of the groups that are represented here today, most especially Newtown Action Alliance, but Sandy Hook Promise, Moms Against Gun Violence, Everytown, Giffords. We have a movement, a movement that we built that will enact more state laws, that will continue this fight, that will bring us an Ethan's Law at the national level, and that will vindicate all of your hard work, all of the tears, reliving the tragedies as you do, every time you come here, and remind us of our obligation. It's not just an opportunity, it's an obligation. And your being here is a powerful reminder of that obligation to stop gun violence in the United States of America. I'm going to now yield to my great colleague and champion, Chris Murphy. Thanks, Seth. Well, thank you all for being here. This is always a heavy day, but a very important day. I want to thank the team that puts this week together. But really, I want to thank all of the mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters who are standing up here who have found a way to both deal and process with this immense grief that none of us who serve in elected positions can ever understand, and do it at the same time that you are speaking truth to power, in a way that is making a difference. And I know, like, right now, it is hard to see through that cloud, right, that combination of grief and electoral loss. But I want to tell you what progress looks like. Just over two years ago, we, for the first time, all of us, collectively, broke 30 years of inaction in Congress, and we passed the first significant anti-gun violence bill in 30 years in this Congress, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, right? Now, that was a victory to celebrate on that day, but it wouldn't have mattered if the promise we made didn't come true, right? What did we say? We said if we get a little bit more serious about keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people, if we put money into communities, right, that are dealing with high rates of violence, to interrupt those cycles of violence, we'll make a difference. We said the gun industry is wrong. It's not more guns that protect us, it's less guns in the hands of dangerous people. We put that theory to test when we passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. Now, not a single one of us is going to rest until there is not a single shooting in a city anywhere across this country that our kids are safe wherever they go, from a church to a shopping mall to a school, but we shouldn't be shy about celebrating that since we passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, gun murders have fallen by 20% in this country, right? Right? Mass shootings this year, right, one is too many, but mass shootings in this country this year are down by 25% compared to last year. Now listen, that doesn't solve the problem, but it is proof of concept that if you change the laws of this country, you save lives, and there are literally tens of thousands of other mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters this holiday season who are not grieving a dead loved one because those numbers are so fundamentally different this year than last year. And let me give you one other sliver of good news. What we want is for this issue to be apolitical, right? We don't want this to be a fight between Republicans and Democrats. We just want everybody to do the right thing, right? So after Donald Trump was elected, I get it, our shoulders slumped a little bit because we wondered whether we could get anything done. But you know what popped up on my screen about two weeks after Donald Trump was elected? An op-ed penned for a major national publication by three Republican senators. I didn't ask them to do this, nobody asked them to do it. They did it on their own, and they wrote an op-ed saying that the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act was a great bill, it's working, and everybody should leave it alone, right? And so that was unthinkable a decade ago, that you would have Republicans proactively joining with us to defend tougher gun laws. But you know why that happens? Because we built this movement, and we didn't stop building the movement when things got tough. Even when we knew that it was going to be a slog federally, we said, you know what? We're going to use that time to recruit more people to our ranks so that when an opportunity comes that we can pass something like the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, we're ready for it. We'll use that time to build relationships with Republicans so that we one day can get to a point where they will celebrate these achievements as they did. And so I get it that things are hard, things are tough, but things are a lot different today than they were 10 years ago. And there's one reason, and one reason only for that, it's because of all of you. It's because all of you have decided that this is a cause that is worth investing in, whether you win on a Monday or you lose on a Monday, right? Because it's just too important not to keep the fight up, no matter how hard, no matter how many obstacles are in your way. So I'm really proud of the progress we have made. I think it's important to celebrate that progress, and I'm just deeply thankful to everybody here who has been a part of it. We have such an amazing group of champions from Connecticut, but from all over the country in the House of Representatives and the leader of our state's delegation who fights so hard on behalf of our kids, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro. Good morning, and thank you very, very much. It is a solemn day, but it's wonderful to see the strength, the courage, the tenacity, the sacrifice of all who are here, who may get knocked down, but you don't get knocked out, and you're there, and you're making the fight. You continue to make that fight, and you make that fight every single day. I want to say a thank you to my colleagues who I serve with, and you know I think as a delegation, we're fierce champions of the issue of gun violence, and indeed, so proud of the legislation that has been authored by Senator Murphy. I also want to just thank Kristen Song, Callie Taylor, Claire Petillo, Nancy Rosette, and all of those who are here today. You have endured tragedies that no one should ever have to face, and we're all aware of the strength that you have shown, and the fight that you make every day to make the world a better place, and you do it on behalf of the loved ones that you have lost. It's your loss who drives you to help others not to have to go through it. We will never, ever forget. It's 12 years now to the day since the community of Newtown, Connecticut was shattered. It was senseless, devastating act of violence. Twenty-six precious, irreplaceable young souls were taken from their families and from their community forever. No words. There are no words to heal the wounds. I see the pictures and so forth. There's no words. You know, you try. You try to say some things about it, but our hearts ache for the parents, for the grandparents, the sisters, the brothers, the friends, the moms, the dads, relatives, whose lives really will never be the same. That's a fact. But together, we gather to reflect, to honor the families, survivors, to mourn the lives that were taken that day. And folks who will tell their stories, I say thank you for doing that, because that takes great courage, and that's what you demonstrate. The bond that we have with all of you is forever, and please understand that. You have stood, many of you, shoulder to shoulder with the Sandy Hook students, advocated for strong gun violence prevention laws, and we won't abandon this mission. Families and communities across the country have suffered as we did in Connecticut, and the frequency of the shootings in the U.S. is traumatizing as it is unrelenting. And we are, with all the progress that we have made, and we applaud. We do have to understand the progress that we have made. But the United States is a global outlier for gun deaths, and there can be no disputing the toll that it takes on our society. We have seen already 482 mass shootings, according to the Gun Violence Archive, this year, more than one every day, an unfathomable amount of death to be occurring on a daily basis. Two days ago, two people were killed, two more injured in a shooting at the restaurant Christmas party in Lake Worth Beach, Florida. The quote, we were all just celebrating Christmas together, the owner said. Quote, you keep feeling like you're just going to wake up, and this is just a nightmare. But it's not a nightmare. It is a reality. And it is the foreseeable consequence of the Congress's consistent failure to act. We have acted in some regards, but we do have a first responsibility as lawmakers to protect the citizens of this country. And we have to move to continue to work at it, to build on the momentum of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. But until we take action, our friends, our neighbors, innocent children will continue to die in this nation. And it's a moral obligation, it's a moral responsibility that we have to protect more Americans from just becoming statistics. No matter how longer or how hard it is, we continue to demand action. And we cannot let our fear and loss calcify into apathy and accept a state of permanent violence as normal. I talked to, and Senator Murphy did, unbelievable progress that has been made as a result of that piece of legislation. That just tells you that the necessity to build on it, because this institution has the ability to change lives, to transform people's lives, to make a difference, to stop the violence against children in this nation. We have that power to do it. We just need to continue to make the demands on the institution that can allow us to go forward. We will fight in the Appropriations Committee this year to protect funding for firearm injury and mortality research at the NIH, the Centers for Disease Control. We established that in 2020. And we got to be united in that fight to save the lives, to end gun violence, and not play partisan games with this critical research. We have to continue to support, as I will, the federal version of Ethan's Law, common sense safety measures. Simply requires gun owners to properly secure their guns. And you'll hear from Claire in a little bit. As many of you know, Kristen and Mike Song lost Ethan five years ago, killed with an unsecured gun in his best friend's house. They fought. They advocated throughout Connecticut, passed Ethan's Law through the state legislature. They took their fight here to the nation's capital. We introduced Ethan's Law in the House. Last Congress, it passed the House as part of Protecting Our Kids Act. And this Congress, we filed a petition, a discharge petition, to force a vote. We need to get that vote again. And we need to get a vote in the Senate as well. Our delegation and our party, our delegation and our party are ready to work. And I will call on my Republican colleagues. It's not a partisan issue. Our children are nonpartisan. Their lives are nonpartisan. Saving their lives is nonpartisan. So I look to all of you to continue. Sometimes it gets weary. And you say, can I make it another step? It's my mom who taught me this. Never take no for an answer. And never give up. And none of you ever will. God bless you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you. And it is my great honor, really, to introduce someone that she can say it all, Claire Petillo, to share her story about her son Christian and Christian's law in Arizona. Thank you, Claire. Thank you. Good morning. My name is Claire Petillo. Our son Christian died in Arizona on September 5, 2021, from an unintentional gunshot while staying the night at a friend's house. This has been a devastating loss for our family, as we know Christian's death was preventable if only that gun had been properly secured. We know we can't bring Christian home, but we can help protect the next child and family from suffering such a preventable tragedy. We understand that guns are an emotional issue in America. We believe that gun owners can be required to properly secure their firearms without infringing on anyone's right to own one, be responsible, or be held accountable. To put this into perspective, here are a few things to consider. Guns continue to be the leading cause of death for children and teens in the United States of America. The Child Fatality Review is an annual exercise by the Arizona Department of Health Services in which teams of medical professionals and public health officials examine every death of a child from birth to age 17. This year's report showed a staggering 171% increase in children dying from guns over the past decade. According to RAND's recent report on the efforts of child access prevention laws, their research shows strong evidence that safe storage laws reduce unintentional shootings, suicide, and violent crimes. My husband Bruce and I decided we can't stand idly by when we know so many children live in homes with access to unsecured guns. Children are innocent, curious, impetuous, and loved. They are developing and learning. They will make mistakes. This is why we are working with Kristen and Mike Song to fight for and pass Ethan's Law. This law will help save lives by protecting and preventing children and teenagers from gaining unauthorized and unsupervised access to guns. If Ethan's Law had been enacted in 2021, our beloved Christian might still be alive. Please don't think this can't happen to you. That was our mistake. I ask you to look in the eyes of your children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and any other children in your life and then ask yourself, could it happen to them? The answer is, unfortunately, yes. Please join us in supporting common sense in supporting Ethan's Law. Thank you. Great job. I'd now like to introduce Congressman Hines. Thank you, Claire. And a big thank you to all of you. I come to this event every year because you deserve to be upheld and thanked and cherished for the strength that you show to get things done, to make this world a better place. I remember, as so many of you, particularly from Connecticut, do, when we learned about the violence in Sandy Hook. It was actually a day just like this one, sunny and cold, and I was at lunch and I looked up at the screen, CNN, and it said, you know, 26 innocents killed 25 miles from my house. My first thought was, that can't be right. That can't be true in Connecticut. That can't be true in the United States. That cannot be true amongst people of goodwill, of human beings. But of course, not only was it true, but this happens every day, more than every day. And it's not just the mass shootings. Very rarely does a month go by when I don't have a young person in the city of Norwalk or Bridgeport or Stanford who has no alternative but to be out on the street. And as a result, they get involved in things that ultimately lead to violence. And of course, tens of thousands of Americans lost to suicide, which is an indictment of our commitment to mental health. And by the way, some easy things, too. We've talked about safe storage. And so sadly, this is the world we live in, where this is what happens every single day. And when I look back on Sandy Hook, I still think about this. I couldn't do what you did. I have no doubt in my mind that I would not have found the strength, having lost a child, to turn that into something good, to turn it into advocacy, to turn that into the demands that someone else's child might not suffer the same fate. But you did. And thank you for that. And as the senators have so well established, it made all the difference to probably thousands of Americans who are alive today because of the Safer Communities Act. And we know what needs to be done. We've said it many times today. Safe storage, assault weapon ban, universal background check. These are not controversial or difficult things. And I'll just close with this observation. It does get caught up in the partisan fight here. It shouldn't, but it does. You can focus on what the NRA is saying or what this advocacy group is saying. Nothing is more powerful than human stories. So Claire, the story you just told, Kristen, the story is sadly so similar to Claire's. You tell those stories, and you move hearts, even in this building, even in this town. So keep it up. I am so stunned by your strength and your courage. Please, please, please keep it up. Thank you. Next will be my colleague from the Hartford, Connecticut area, Congressman John Larson. Thank you, Jim. And I want to thank the delegation and our senators, and especially Senator Murphy for his incredible work that he has been able to do. You were proud of this delegation and how we stick and fight together. But more proud of those of you that are here, those of you who, as Jim said, share your stories. Those of you who carry a mission in your hearts because of the incredible loss that you have endured. What's transpired in this country, as you've heard the senators enumerate and the DNS of our delegation go through in terms of the numbers, is a bloodstain on our democracy. And what's going to change it, as hard as we will work on legislation, actually is the work that all of you do. In Hartford, Connecticut, Mothers United Against Violence are the ones that are making the change. Mothers who've lost their children. Mothers that know that hurt and impact and know that it's got to happen from the bottom up. You come into a press conference like this and look around the room and you can't help but notice that the real change is going to come through your efforts, through your commitment, through your help. It's written on your faces and forever carried in your hearts. And we will always be with you. I'd like to introduce my colleague, Joe Courtney. Thank you, John. And good morning. Again, the presence of people here from California to the East Coast together, again, I think speaks more powerfully almost than any words about the fact that people are not ready to give up or really just sort of, you know, go into a, you know, cave because of what happened in this last election. You know, Hakeem Jeffries, the leader in the House over the last, you know, few weeks or so, since November 5th, has been just reminding us in every single meeting that back in 2017 when Donald Trump won the election in 2016, the House majority was 242. Today, it's 220. And for the first three months of this coming year, it will be 217. So it will be a majority of 217 to 215. I mean, you really have to go back in the history books to see a House that is that majority, that is that precarious. And I say that because the fact of the matter is there are going to be moments over the next two years where whether it's going to be just must do things like the debt ceiling and keeping the government open, where there's going to be opportunities with that precarious of a majority, because there are members on the Republican side, as Chris said, who frankly come from districts where sort of, you know, just rock solid defense of the NRA in opposition to any gun violence measures like Chris Murphy's amazing bill is not going to work for them. So there really are going to be opportunities. And people like Hakeem is saying is really got to recognize that we still have to stay on our toes here in Washington, number one, to obviously protect the progress that Chris' bill made, but also to find opportunities for really, you know, common sense measures like Ethan's law to possibly make its way through the process. It was a bruising election. And frankly, the most corrosive moments is when you have the president-elect saying things like get over it, or the vice president-elect saying that school shootings are a fact of life. You know, again, it's not a fact of life. You know, there are things that are facts of life, but school shootings is, I mean, awful thing to say. And your presence here shows that we're not prepared to accept that narrative. And we are going to move forward to make sure that we protect life, particularly of our children in schools, as opposed to the, you know, really negative, corrosive, insidious type of comments that we heard in 2024. So, again, thank you for being here, and obviously for the family spokesmen who are here to address us. And I'd like to, again, now yield to Nancy Rosette, who is going to, again, share her thoughts this morning. Thank you. Good morning. My name is Selena. And I'm going to interpret for Nancy as soon as she finishes her speech. A sus escasos 16 años conoció las drogas, específicamente la marihuana, por lo que en su miedo lo ingresé a una clínica particular de recuperación. Mi hijo estaba a punto de salir tras meses de rehabilitación. El mismo me pidió lo ayudara. Me dijo que ya no quería consumir. Por eso lo llevé a la clínica, que se llamaba, irónicamente, Salva Tu Vida. Pero en esta clínica, mi hijo fue desaparecido forzadamente. Él ingresa en junio del 2010. Y la versión del dueño de la clínica es que lo envió junto con otros dos chicos al estado de Matamoros, Tamaulipas, en México, por un paciente más, del cual la mamá solicitó el servicio de rehabilitación. Pero al día de hoy, no he vuelto a saber nada de mi hijo. Ya son 13 años, 11 meses, 11 días, que no sé nada de él. Es mi único hijo y lo amo demasiado, por eso lo sigo buscando. El hombre que dirigía la clínica tenía protección de la policía. Representaba la clínica Salva Tu Vida, afirmó ser el terapeuta y preocuparse por las personas que reciben tratamiento. Pero en realidad estaba coludido con la delincuencia organizada. Vendía droga y andaba armado para amedrentar a los pacientes y estos hicieran lo que él quisiera. En este largo tiempo, me he visto en la necesidad de salir a buscar a Elvis, por todos los medios posibles, para lograr atención tanto de la ciudadanía como del gobierno mexicano. He realizado marchas, plantones, huelgas de hambre, reuniones con autoridades. Por lo único que me he ocasionado son amenazas. Después de cuatro años persiguiendo a Fernando Sandoval Díaz, dueño de la clínica, finalmente lo detienen con armas de fuego estadounidenses. Traía drogas, venía vestido de policía de investigación federal en una camioneta robada. Herramientas y acciones que le permitieron desaparecer a mi hijo y a otras personas más. Estoy segura de que muchos de ustedes están familiarizados con la violencia que ocurre en México. Pero, ¿qué pasaría si les dijera que México solo tiene una tienda de armas y está ubicada en una base militar? El 70% de las armas de fuego recuperadas en delitos en México se retoman a Estados Unidos. Estas armas llegan a México a través de exportaciones legales y tráfico ilegal de armas. Son 116,000 personas desaparecidas forzadamente en México. Las armas que los están matando en Estados Unidos son las mismas que nos matan y nos hacen desaparecer en México. Sabemos que aprobar leyes de seguridad en armas en Estados Unidos, como las que defendemos hoy, también salvará vidas en México. Estoy aquí para apoyar a los sobrevivientes de Estados Unidos y pedirles que apoyen a México. Gracias a Dios por mi hijo. Gracias a ustedes que me escuchan y gracias a Global Exchange por apoyarme. Y hoy lucho por lo que le pasó a mi hijo. No le pasa a nadie más. Forgive me if I'm breaking, but December is a very painful month for me. My name is Nancy Rosete. I come from the state of Mexico, in Mexico. I'm the mother of Elvis Alex Rosete. He was 17 years old when he disappeared in December 2010. He was a victim of violence with American firearms. At just 16 years old, he discovered drugs, especially marijuana. So because of that fear, we admitted him into a rehab clinic. My son was about to leave after months of rehab. My son himself asked me to help him. He told me that he was no longer wanting to consume drugs. So I took him to this clinic that was ironically called Save Your Life. But in this clinic, my son was forcibly disappeared. He was admitted in June 2010, and the clinic owner's version is that he sent him along with two other boys to the state of Matamoros, Tamaulipas in Mexico for another patient whose mother requested rehab services. But to this day, I have not seen my son again, and it has been 13 years, 11 months, 11 days since I heard of him. He was my only son, and I love him so much. That's why I continue to look for him. The man who run the clinic had police protection. He represented the clinic's Save Your Life. He claimed to be a therapist and to care about the people who received treatment. But in reality, he was in collusion with the organized crime. He sold drugs, and he went around armed with intimidating patients so they would do what he asked them to do. In this long time, I have seen the need to go out and look for Elvis all possible ways to get attention from both the citizens and the Mexican government. I have carried out marches, sit-ins, hunger strikes, meeting with authorities. But the only thing that has caused me is to suffer threatens. After four years of pursuing Fernando Sandoval, the owner of the clinic, they finally arrested him carrying American firearms. He was carrying drugs as well, and he came dressed as a federal investigation police in a stolen van. Tools and actions that allowed him to disappear my son and other people. I'm sure that many of you are familiar with the violence that occurs in Mexico. But what if I told you that Mexico only has one store and is located on a military base? 70% of firearms recovered in crime scenes in Mexico are traced back to the U.S. These weapons come to Mexico through legal exports and illegal armed trafficking. 116,000 people have been forcibly disappeared in Mexico. The weapons that are killing them in the United States, that are killing you in the United States, are the same ones killing us back in Mexico. We know that passing gun safety laws in the United States, like the ones we are defending today, will also save lives in Mexico. I'm here to support the survivors of the U.S. and ask you to support Mexico. Thank God for my son. Thank you for listening to me, and thank you, Global Exchange, for supporting me. We're going to hear now from Callie Taylor. Hello, my name is Callie Taylor, and I'm a junior at Newtown High School and a co-chair of Junior Newtown Action Alliance. My mom was a second grade teacher at Sandy Hook School the day the tragedy happened. She was there at the time of the shooting, and by chance, she and her students were able to walk out of that building, make no mistake, their lives were changed forever. While I was not in the building that day, it has continued to impact my life. It was not until second grade that one of my friends had told me about the shooting at Sandy Hook. A classmate and friends of mine, towns away from the school, knew what happened that day, and I didn't. He told me that a man with a gun had walked into the school and proceeded to use it to shoot both the adults and children in the building. Up until then, I had believed that a bear had attacked the elementary school, despite my parents telling me the truth numerous times. I was only four at the time of the shooting, therefore I was not able to process what had actually happened, and nor should I have had to. No child should have to hear about others their age being murdered while in school by a man with a gun, a weapon that has the capacity to rob the lives of such innocent children. When I came to more of an understanding as to what happened, I began to view things a little differently. When I was in third grade, I was scared to go to the bathroom. The school that I went to only had one bathroom on the side of the building where the third grade classrooms were. This bathroom had a window in it, which seemed so insignificant, but for this very reason, I avoided using the bathroom whenever I could. I feared that someone would come in through the window while I was in there and try and harm me. I will not accept the fact that kids do not feel safe in school. School should be one of the safest places, a place where you are free to learn and grow. While everyone's connections to gun violence may be different, it is vital that we all come to an agreement that it can and will impact everyone if we make no effort to do anything about it. While lockdown drills and school not being a place of safety is all my generation has ever known, this is not the way it should be. We have the power to change this for our future generations and should pour our energy into making not only schools but our communities safe places free from gun violence. I want to live in a society that places a higher value on children than guns. I stand with other students from Newtown and beyond to urge Congress to make passing life-saving gun bills a priority so that guns are no longer the number one killer of children and teens in America. Thank you. Thank you so much, Callie. Your presence here shows us one of the really important facts. In these 12 years, a whole new generation has come of age. The young people who were at Sandy Hook, four years old, are able to vote. They are going to make a difference. A whole new generation is there to fight gun violence, and this movement will only grow stronger. We're going to get it done. Thank you for coming today and look forward to being back here. It will take us being back here next year, maybe the year after, but it makes such a big difference that you are here. You are the warriors for gun safety in this country. Thank you so much. Thank you.