19-year-old who lost his brother in the Sandy Hook massacre is running for state Senate in Connecticut

On Wednesday's episode of "America with Eric Bolling," Eric was joined by J.T. Lewis, a 19-year-old who lost his brother, Jesse, in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre on Dec. 14, 2012, to discuss why he is running for a state Senate seat in Connecticut.

In this clip, J.T. explained that Connecticut's failure to lead the nation on the issue of school safety reform prompted him to run for office.

"The way I see it, after the Sandy Hook massacre we should have led the nation in school safety reform," J.T. said. "I mean, to have that platform, having lost 26 lives, we need to use that or else it is a waste of life."

Redirecting the conversation, Eric asked J.T. what kind of changes he wanted to see in the state of Connecticut.

"After the Sandy Hook massacre, you see many organizations start that want gun control. You see it after every single mass murder," J.T. said. "A noble cause it might be, it is not successful at all ... what needs to happen is bipartisan solutions."

"Give me some sense of what you are looking as a bipartisan solution," Eric said.

According to J.T., simple things like securing schools with an armed guard and locking the doors from the inside are bipartisan solutions that would keep kids safe.

"This is not bipartisan, but why not allow teachers to carry if they want to?" Eric asked.

"That is an idea that we have actually had a discussion with the president about, and you cannot arm teachers if the teachers do not support that idea," J.T. replied.

J.T. explained that in remote areas where police response time was 10 to 15 minutes, the idea of arming teachers had been floated but that the vast majority of Americans did not support teachers being armed.

Eric then shifted gears: "So tell us about Jesse."

"Jesse, 6, was a very loud soul. In the days after the massacre, the house was quiet. It was such a change," J.T. said.

According to an FBI report, the killer entered Jesse's classroom and opened fire, killing some of Jesse's classmates. The killer stopped, though it is unclear whether his gun jammed or he stopped to reload, Jesse reportedly told his classmates to "run."

The report credits Jesse for saving the lives of nine classmates. Jesse stayed behind to help his teacher and ultimately was killed.

"That is a story that I share as much as I can because it is something that resonates with all of us," J.T. said.

J.T. explained that he shared Jesse's story with former President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump, moving both men to an emotional response.

"A story that unites two presidents on opposite sides of the political spectrum, that is a powerful story. As a United States senator, I am going to use that story to bring people together. That is the only way we can move forward," J.T. said.

Watch the video below for more.

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