With the return of bicycling squad Team 26 to town on May 7, after a four-day ride from Washington, DC, we are reminded that there are miles to go regarding common sense gun legislation. The cyclists' symbolic action this year of turning their backs on an unresponsive Congress, leaving, rather than arriving in the nation's capitol city in a reversal of the 400-plus-mile ride taken in previous years, speaks loudly - to those who listen.blumenthal.senate.govmurphy.senate.govesty.house.govJP.Sredzinski@housegop.ct.govMitch.Bolinsky@housegop.ct.govWilliam.Duff@housegop.ct.govTony@tonyhwang.orgwhitehouse.gov/contact

On March 26, 16 more Americans were injured by gunfire and two died in the shooting at the Cameo Night Club in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is not surprising, though it should be, if you do not recall the incident. It barely generated a blip on the news cycle, despite CNN noting that it was the largest mass shooting in the US in 2017, to date. Once more, gun violence disrupted innocent lives.

The school shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., on April 10 that killed three people, including an 8-year-old child, was the twelfth school shooting this year, and the 220th since 12/14.

Everytown For Gun Safety statistics show that America's gun homicide rate is more than 25 times the average of other developed countries, and for every person murdered by guns, two more are injured.

This is a horrific statistic.

For those who feel that this cost of lives to gun violence is acceptable, perhaps numbers that hit the wallet are more powerful.

Not including visits to emergency rooms or readmissions to hospitals, initial hospitalization resulting from gun violence results in a cost of approximately $734.6 million every year, according to Stanford researchers in a March 2017 American Journal of Public Health article. The researchers found that those costs are greatly borne by the government - that is, taxpayers.

It is obvious that gun violence is as much a public health and economic issue as it is a criminal one.

Without stronger national gun laws to prevent those who should not have guns from obtaining them; without national background checks; so long as it is suggested that the weakest state laws regarding gun ownership become the law of the land, innocent Americans will remain at risk. Costs for caring for victims of gun violence will continue to increase.

In the two months since the Cameo Night Club shooting, more than 3,500 Americans will have died due to gun violence, and thousands more have been injured. We are ignorant of most of these incidents.

Hope, love, and peace was the mantra of Team 26 and other speakers at the welcome home rally, along with a pledge from legislators to do what is right to protect American lives.

Gun violence is costly in dollars and cents, and in lives lost. It is not acceptable in any number, and certainly not in the numbers prevalent in our country. Every day demands voices making as much noise as the gunshots that threaten our futures. These contacts are a starting point.

Senator Richard Blumenthal: 860-258-6940; 202-224-2823;

Senator Chris Murphy: 860-549-8463; 202-224-4041;

Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty: 860-223-8412;

Representative J.P. Sredzinski: 860-240-8700;

Representative Mitch Bolinsky: 860-240-8700;

Representative William Duff: 860-240-8700;

Senator Tony Hwang: 203-807-8098;

President Donald Trump: