Two days before the Sandy Hook shooting anniversary, survivors and other gun violence victims traveled to Capitol Hill. They urged Congress to pass new gun safety laws.

That’s unlikely in the new Trump administration, but victims insist they are not giving up.

When a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary on Dec. 14, 2012, Amy Taylor protected a classroom of second graders. Her daughter – just 4 years old at the time – still lives in fear.

“When I was in third grade, I was scared to go to the bathroom,” said Cali Taylor, now a junior at Newtown High School. “I feared that someone would come in through the window while I was in there and try and harm me.”

Cali Taylor joined gun violence victims in Washington, along with Connecticut’s congressional delegation, to push for more gun safety measures on Thursday.

“It’s not a partisan issue,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-New Haven). “Our children are non-partisan. Their lives are non-partisan. Saving their lives is non-partisan.”

Gun violence groups hope Congress will back a national version of Connecticut's Ethan's Law, which requires firearms be stored safely if there is a child under 18 years old in the house. The law is named after Ethan Song, a teenager from Guilford who accidentally killed himself after he found a gun at his friend’s house.

But on Capitol Hill, gun control groups are mostly playing defense. Republicans will soon control Congress and the White House.

“We are not giving up. We are not going away,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal. “We are not abandoning gun violence prevention.”

Gun violence groups do see some reason for optimism. Last month, three GOP senators penned a Newsweek op-ed praising the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which cracked down on “straw purchases,” clarified which firearms dealers must be licensed and enhanced background checks for younger buyers.

It was the first major gun law in two decades. Sen. Chris Murphy negotiated it with Sen. John Cornyn, a conservative Republican from Texas.

“Since we passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, gun murders have fallen by 20% in this country,” Murphy said on Thursday. “There are literally tens of thousands of other mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters this holiday season who are not grieving a dead loved one.”

The Safer Communities Act also provided $750 million to help states pass “Red Flag Laws” and $250 million for community-based violence prevention initiatives.

“It’s not just the mass shootings,” said Rep. Jim Himes (D-Greenwich). “Very rarely does a month go by when I don’t have a young person in the city of Norwalk or Bridgeport or Stamford who has no alternative but to be out on the street.”

But for families in Newtown, which will mark another somber anniversary on Saturday, it comes too late.

“I will not accept the fact that kids do not feel safe in school. School should be one of the safest places,” Taylor said. “I stand with other students from Newtown and beyond to urge Congress to make passing life-saving gun bills a priority, so that guns are no longer the number one killer of children and teens in America.”

Since Sandy Hook, Connecticut schools have spent millions of dollars hardening security. The Safer Communities Act provided $300 million more nationwide.