As it was for those of us who were alive when JKF or Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were assassinated, or more recently on 9/11, we remember exactly where we were when we heard the news of the Sandy Hook School shooting on December 14, 2012. The indelible mark it made on our nation’s history was about more than the needless death of 20 beautiful children and six caring educators, it was an indictment on the inability of the country to come to grips with the epidemic of gun violence.

Please join us as we pause for a moment today to mourn the unthinkable loss of life in the Sandy Hook classrooms on this day five years ago—and for the more than 165,000 Americans from every walk of life whose lives have also been taken by gunfire since that day.

For many of us, it’s difficult to consider 12/14/12 a turning point in the fight to end gun violence. Sadly, a majority of the Congress—those sworn to protect us and with the power to act—have done less than nothing. But Newtown was a watershed moment.

Never before has a community galvanized the nation to honor with action the lives lost from gun violence as have the determined and passionate survivors and citizens of Newtown. The staff and board of CT Against Gun Violence are honored to know them as our friends and collaborators in the fight to save lives.

So too are we enormously grateful for your unflagging support and generous contribution of time, energy and resources to make the children and communities of Connecticut, and the nation, safe from gun violence.

Today all of us at CT Against Gun Violence renew our pledge to do all that we can to make that goal a reality for everyone.