A White House visit renews hope and legislative action for the future of Indiana’s children

By MAUREEN BAUER I carried the memory of Kylin Brooks and Kyler Jackson to our Nation’s Capital as I joined other state legislators from across the country at the White House to discuss gun violence prevention policies. The loss of these young victims to unintentional shootings in our community are not just statistics, but also birthdays that will never be celebrated, a child who won’t experience joy this holiday season, a family who bears the unimaginable pain of burying a child. Many legislators who joined me in D.C. have also grieved alongside community members and victims of gun violence, just as I and many of my colleagues in the Indiana legislature. As community leaders, we carry the weight of these tragedies, yet that does not compare to the burden that families carry long after they bury a loved one. As a state legislator, I believe it is my responsibility to uplift and share these stories, and not let them fade into another statistic about gun violence. It is our duty as leaders to fight for policy change in honor of those we have lost. While at the White House, I learned that Indiana is not alone in this desire to...