When Governor Dannel P. Malloy accepted the final report of the Sandy Hook Advisory Commission last Friday, the occasion called for both solemnity and congratulations for the depth and scope of the panel’s 277-page report and its long list of recommendations. Even though the report has been released more than two years after the attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School, the 16 members of the commission presented it with a sense of urgency, noting there has been, on average, one school shooting every week since 12/14. “We can do something different,” said Hamden Mayor and Commission Chairman Scott Jackson. “We can do something better.” To that panel member Christopher Lyddy, added, “We have to start thinking much differently and boldly.”

Despite these compelling calls for action that is different, better, and bold, the governor knew, as the most deft politician in the room, that many of the mental health recommendations in the report would not be funded. The legislature is cobbling together a balanced state budget sacrifice by sacrifice, and new spending programs appear to be particularly vulnerable in the current political climate. The commission’s recommendations addressing gun violence are equally at risk. They include a “suitability screening process” for gun owners who pose immediate risks to themselves and others. The recommendations drew a quick condemnation by the pro-gun Connecticut Citizens Defense League as just another unacceptable item on the governor’s “anti-Constitutional rights agenda.”

In praising the report, the governor skipped over the present limited prospects for progress on its recommendations to declare, “This is about the future.” The pivot allowed him to convey the hope and confidence the occasion required. He also felt it necessary to emphasize that the report would not be going on a shelf and forgotten; he pledged to keep it close at hand as a policy guide. It was clear that both the governor and the commissioners cared deeply about how the report, its recommendations, and their limited prospects would play in Newtown. In releasing the report, said one commissioner, “our thoughts are first and foremost with the people of Newtown.”

The Newtown community has been on the receiving end of so much material and moral support in the past two years. Despite all the good wishes and encouragement, we do not think there is a town anywhere that has a more level-headed view of the challenges at hand. We live in a world that demands quick fixes, but there are few people in Newtown who do not understand that addressing the causes and effects of the unspeakable violence that erupted in one of our elementary schools warrants a lifetime commitment. From what we have seen of that commitment in the last two years, this community is all in. We expect no less from our elected representatives. We ask them not to lose heart and momentum because of what might be impossible today. We want them to get busy working on what will be possible tomorrow and the next day and the next.