After Sandy Hook and San Bernardino, optimism can still change gun politics: Gabby Giffords Politicians should enact commonsense solutions Americans want.

Gabrielle Giffords | USA TODAY

I was shot five years ago in January. But it is in December, during the season of lighting candles and pulling loved ones close, that the toll of gun violence on America’s families hurts the most.

It is in this season and on this day that I think not only of the 20 children lost at Sandy Hook Elementary School three years ago, and of their teachers and principal, but also of their families. Their parents, their siblings, their grandparents. All who were left behind.

These children were so small, but their lives were so big. And the space they left behind cannot be filled.

Since that tragedy three years ago Monday, about 30,000 more Americans have been murdered with guns. Some were killed by strangers. Many of them by people they knew. Some were Republicans, and some were Democrats. All, I know, were loved. All, like those kids at Sandy Hook, have left a hole in their families’ hearts that is eternal. Many of their deaths might not have made the headlines, but we must grieve for them, too.

As another year since the tragedy at Sandy Hook passes, I sometimes struggle to find the hope that has carried me along my path — to Congress and then back from the brink of death after a gunman opened fire on me and my constituents on Jan. 8, 2011.

Because I know that this week, Congress will do exactly what its members have done every week since those 20 kindergartners and first-graders were murdered in their classrooms: nothing at all.

That’s cowardice, an embrace of the shameful status quo we’ve grown to expect from a Congress in the gun lobby’s grip. Many of my former colleagues are in the cold clutches of pessimism and its key ingredient: fear.

Thankfully, Americans are not as easily intimidated. And some leaders are not cowed. Despite Congress’ inaction, Americans continue to support and call for commonsense action. Nine out of 10 Americans continue to support closing the loopholes that let dangerous people get guns with no questions asked.

And we are making progress. In Virginia, a state with a proud tradition of gun ownership, voters elected a governor with the courage to be a champion for common sense. Across the country in Washington state, voters chose a commonsense approach at the ballot box that won’t deprive a single law-abiding citizen of the right to own guns. And with the support of our organization, Americans for Responsible Solutions, leaders from both sides of the aisle in states around the country took important steps to protect domestic violence victims by helping keep guns out of abusers’ hands.

Outside the halls of Congress, people aren’t throwing up their hands and falling back on the same tired excuses. They’re doing what it takes to make us safer.

We hear often that “guns don’t kill people — people kill people.” And that is true. It’s not because we have guns that we have violence, and it’s not because of law-abiding gun owners like me, my husband, Mark, and millions of other Americans; we know that, and we know that no one action or responsible law will prevent every tragedy. But that is no excuse for inaction.

POLICING THE USA: A look at race, justice, media

In my experience, pessimism has never solved a single problem. But as Americans, we know that action does. We come together to build bridges, to give shelter, to provide help and hope in times of need. We can come together now to make our country a little bit safer.

In the months ahead, Congress will have the opportunity to act. So, too, will our president. I hope they seize that chance.

I will never forget the time I have spent with the families of children lost to gun violence. Speaking is hard for me; I practice and practice to get better. But most times, giving gentle hugs, holding hands and sitting with them to look at pictures of their beautiful children is what I can do to comfort them.

Their slain children were, as kids everywhere are, fundamentally optimistic. Every day at school, they were eager to learn new things. Every day at home, their bonds with their families and their traditions grew deeper.

They have every right to expect us to honor their legacy by refusing to give into pessimism, by embracing our American optimism and by coming together to make other children and families safer.

The only things standing between us and that vital goal are Congress and the gun lobby. And it is just a matter of time until Congress comes around — and acts. So let’s carry our elected officials in Washington along with us, buoyed by our grit and our hope and our optimism, just as Americans always have.

Gabrielle Giffords is a former U.S. representative from Arizona and the founder with her husband of Americans for Responsible Solutions.

In addition to its own editorials, USA TODAY publishes diverse opinions from outside writers, including our Board of Contributors. To read more columns like this, go to the Opinion front page.