EDITORIAL: Never forget the 21 victims in the Robb Elementary School shooting

May 23-Four years have passed since a gunman stormed into Robb Elementary School in Uvalde and killed 19 children and two teachers.

To the surviving families, we will never forget your loved ones. We will always honor the lives of each child and teacher through remembrance.

Many surviving Robb Elementary family members have shown remarkable resilience since the massacre, advocating for commonsense but politically elusive reforms that would reduce gun violence in America.

Like many others, we wholeheartedly support these reforms: universal background checks, red flag laws, safe storage requirements, raising the minimum age to buy certain types of weapons, banning assault weapons.

We don't view these reforms as infringing on gun rights. While a given reform might not stop a particular shooting or change the prevalence of firearms, the aim should be to reduce the crisis of gun violence.

America has made progress. We have seen a decline in nonsuicide shooting deaths since 2021, when there were 21,447. Last year, there were 14,651, according to the Trace, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to covering gun violence.

But that is still much too high - one shooting death is one too many - and we wonder what could be accomplished if we were more unified.

The tragedy of Uvalde will be felt for generations. It will be felt for the young lives taken away, as well as for the delayed and confused police response that made the tragedy even more horrifying.

One day, perhaps, Uvalde will create a truth and reconciliation commission so first responders can apologize to surviving family members. That day may be a long way off, or it may never come. But every day since May 24, 2021, we remember the victims of the Robb Elementary School shooting.

Nevaeh Alyssa Bravo, 10; Jacklyn "Jackie" Cazares, 9; Makenna Lee Elrod, 10; Jose Flores Jr., 10; Eliahna "Ellie" Amyah Garcia, 9; Irma Linda Garcia, 48; Uziyah Sergio Garcia, 10; Amerie Jo Garza, 10; Xavier James Lopez, 10; Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, 10; Tess Marie Mata, 10; Maranda Mathis, 11; Eva Mireles, 44; Alithia Haven Ramirez, 10; Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10; Maite Yuleana Rodriguez, 10; Alexandria "Lexi" Aniyah Rubio, 10; Layla Marie Salazar, 11; Jailah Nicole Silguero, 10; Eliahna Cruz Torres, 10; and Rojelio Fernandez Torres, 10.

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