On the recordApril 8, 2013
last month a group of 26 cyclists set off on a 3-day, 400 mile journey from Newtown, CT, to the steps of our Nation's Capitol. They began their ride with a stop at Sandy Hook Elementary School, a place that should be synonymous with childhood, innocence, and learning. Instead, for now, it reminds us of tragedy. The cyclists left Newtown that morning to bring Washington a simple message: It is time for Congress to finally take steps to stop gun violence. These riders were not special interest groups or highly paid lobbyists. They were everyday people--teachers, police officers, librarians, healthcare professionals. People like Heather Peck, a school psychologist and mother of two from Newtown, who wrote that she was riding ``for those beautiful smiling faces that I see coming down the hallway each day and their right to feel safe and secure at school.'' Like Gary Lyke of Brookfield, CT, a Vietnam veteran who wrote that he was riding ``in the hope I can help encourage our leaders to join in creating meaningful, common sense laws making it safe for children to grow and inherit the freedoms I and other veterans served for.'' Like Officer Jeff Silver of the Newtown Department of Police Services, who wrote simply, ``I ride for commonsense gun control laws.'' But sadly, in a Nation where polls have shown that a majority of Americans support background checks for all gun sales, the status quo defies common sense.…





