Lawmakers welcome Newtown cycling team, demand action on gun control

WASHINGTON, March 13 -- Connecticut’s members of Congress welcomed a cycling team from Newtown, Conn. outside the Capitol Tuesday, urging their colleagues on Capitol Hill to tighten gun control laws 15 months after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Team 26, a group of professional cyclists and parents of children who attend or formerly attended Sandy Hook, began the second annual ride to Washington from Newtown Saturday. The trek is the first leg of a ride across the U.S. in honor of victims of gun violence.

“As elected officials in the U.S. Congress, it is now our job to meet this call,” said Rep. Elizabeth Esty, who represents Newtown’s district. “[Members of Team 26] are vivid examples of the extraordinary response to the horrific tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School -- responding to indescribable horror not with despair or anger but with peace, hope, and love.”