WASHINGTON–U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), U.S. Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and Mark Barden, Sandy Hook Promise co-founder, authored an op-ed in The Hill on the nine year anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting. The three called for bipartisan action to meaningfully expand background checks and address the epidemic of gun violence in America.

“Nine years ago this month (12-14-12), 20 first-graders and six educators were shot to death at Sandy Hook Elementary School. It was an unimaginable tragedy that shook the nation to its core. The tragedy demanded solutions. So in 2013, we — members of Congress and advocates — worked across the aisle to write a bill that would make it more difficult for people that we can all agree shouldn’t have access to firearms to obtain them. But the Senate failed to pass even this bipartisan bill,” Murphy, Toomey and Barden wrote.

They continued: “Since that time, shootings in this country have become only more commonplace … Just the other week, four teenagers were shot and murdered at school by their classmate in Oxford, Mich. The devastation that follows these shootings is hard to fathom. Families lost a son, a daughter, or a sibling that day. Children are reeling from having lost a classmate, a friend, or a teammate. It’s simply unacceptable that today students across the country worry about being gunned down when they step off the bus and into school.”

Murphy, Toomey and Barden are committed to working in a bipartisan fashion to save lives: “That’s why the three of us — a progressive Democrat, a conservative Republican, and an activist whose son was killed in the Sandy Hook shooting — are at the table, ready to work on a deal to save lives. Here’s our goal: expand the existing background checks system to keep prohibited persons from taking advantage of loopholes.”

On the popularity of expanding background checks, they noted: “Eight in 10 Americans, including tens of millions of gun owners, want us to expand background checks. More than 50 bipartisan senators already support doing so.”

Today, on this day of remembrance of the Sandy Hook tragedy, we ask our colleagues, advocates, and parents to join us in taking bipartisan action to strengthen and expand our background checks system,” Murphy, Toomey and Barden wrote.

You can read the full op-ed here.

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