Eleven years ago today the soul of Newtown, the soul of Connecticut, and the soul of the nation were pierced forever when twenty-six souls were stolen at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Within minutes, a shooter armed with a weapon of war took the lives of twenty first grade students who had their whole lives ahead of them and six educators who bravely sacrificed their own safety to protect their students. Today, those first grade students should be seniors in high school, dreaming big and about to embark on their adult lives.  
 
We should not have to live like this. It is a national tragedy that over a decade later our nation’s gun violence epidemic is still not solved. My Administration is implementing the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to the fullest extent under the law, we have taken dozens of executive actions, and this fall I established the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention to take every action available to save lives. But it’s not enough. We will not be able to protect Americans from the threat of gun violence until Congress does its part and takes commonsense and proven measures like passing universal background checks, banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and more.
 
Our nation owes a debt of gratitude to the courageous survivors, families, first responders, and Connecticut officials who turned their deep grief into action. Their years of advocacy made the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act possible. We must continue to follow their lead and honor the innocent lives who were stolen that horrible day by turning our pain into purpose, our loss into determination, and our collective and justifiable anger into a deep-seated commitment for change.
 
Today, Jill and I are praying for the families and survivors in the Newtown community, and every single community that has been ripped apart by this senseless violence. May God bless them.