In March of 2013, Team 26 set off on their bikes to pedal the 300 miles from Newtown to Washington, D.C., where they would press Congress to quickly pass new legislation to fix the broken background check system. At this point, just months after 20 beautiful children and six dedicated educators were brutally murdered in Sandy Hook, we all thought that Congress would finally act to close the dangerous loopholes that enable literally anyone to purchase deadly firearms over the internet or at gun shows with no questions asked.

Despite broad public support for such commonsense reforms, the Senate failed the American people as a vocal minority blocked the bill from even receiving a vote.

Like millions of Americans across the country, the riders of Team 26 were devastated by Washington’s collective heartlessness in the face of these horrific killings. If the violent deaths of 20 innocent little kids and face-to-face meetings with their grieving parents could not inspire Congress to rise above politics and do the right thing, what on earth could? We all came to the same conclusion: relentless public pressure.

While we hoped that Congress would quickly pass easy fixes to repair our broken gun laws, we prepared ourselves for a long-term fight to close dangerous loopholes and pass critical reforms that will save lives. And so, Team 26 again rode in 2014, then 2015, and now again, in 2016. Women and men of all ages continue to put their lives on hold and pedal their way to Washington to call attention to congressional inaction and the concrete solutions ready for a vote.

As Team 26 completed their fourth ride to Washington last week, the overwhelming majority of Americans still support universal background checks. According to the latest Quinnipiac University poll, 89 percent of Americans favor requiring a background check on all gun sales — but the near-universal support is met with silence in Washington. By failing to take a single step to reduce gun violence, Congress has become complicit in these murders.

This year, Team 26 rode again because they made a promise to the victims’ families in Sandy Hook that they would not rest until real action was taken to prevent other families from feeling this pain. The group left Newtown on April 9th to deliver a petition with more than 36,000 signatures calling on Congress to keep deadly weapons off college campuses because schools are a place for learning, not shootouts. When the riders arrived in Washington on April 12th, Newtown’s Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty took the petition to the floor of the House of Representatives, and Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy brought it to the Senate.

Winning the fight for commonsense gun laws will require a groundswell of ordinary Americans demanding their elected officials do something in the face of this epidemic. The persistence and dedication of the anti-gun-violence activists across Connecticut and the county is inspiring and reassuring. Winning this debate in Washington will take longer than it should, but thanks to the compassion and drive of people like Team 26, we have no doubt that compassion and reason will win in the end.

U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy are Democrats representing Connecticut and U.S. Rep. , and Elizabeth Esty is a Democrat representing the 5th District, which includes Newtown.