NEWTOWN, Conn. — Over the weekend, there was a series of mass shootings, including nine people wounded in San Francisco; one person killed and six wounded in Antioch, California; six people injured in Houston; and three people killed and three injured in Annapolis, Maryland. According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 290 mass shootings – where four or more people were killed or injured, excluding the shooter – in 2023.
In response, Mark Barden, co-founder and CEO of the Sandy Hook Promise Action Fund and father of Daniel, who was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy, issued the following statement:
“We ache for the families and loved ones of the victims, and send healing to all of the people injured during another deadly weekend of mass shootings across the country. Our heartbreak is accompanied by overwhelming frustration and anger that gun violence continues seemingly unabated.
“Summer weekends are plagued by gun violence, as both the temperatures and the death tolls rise. The seasonal rise of mass shootings has become routine in towns and cities from coast to coast. We hardly take notice as people fall and die around us — despite being in the midst of the gun violence epidemic. Public officials must stop treating gun violence like it’s normal and immediately take action to end it, with the same approach as other public health epidemics. Our public officials must implement policies that support communities while also addressing national barriers to ending gun violence. And all of us — in every community across the nation — must demand that they act now.
“We know how to stop mass shootings. Undisputed research proves that gun violence is preventable when we know the warning signs and take action to get help. Simple policy actions like background checks for all gun sales, secure storage, and temporary transfer orders are proven to save lives and are remedies legislators can and must pass immediately. We are outraged by the refusal of public officials to pass and implement these policies. As citizens, we demand action.
“We must honor every victim by working to help end gun violence. We must use our voices to ensure that America stops accepting gun violence as an inevitability and, instead, enact policies and programs to start preventing it — now.”
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The Sandy Hook Promise Action Fund (SHPAF) is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization committed to protecting all children from gun violence in schools, homes, and communities. The SHP Action Fund advances a holistic policy platform that promotes gun safety, youth mental health, and violence prevention education. The organization works at the state and federal level to pass nonpartisan legislation through inclusive partnerships, diverse grassroots education, and community mobilization. It is part of Sandy Hook Promise, founded and led by several family members whose loved ones were killed in the tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012. Learn more at actionfund.sandyhookpromise.org.
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Aimee Thunberg | [email protected] | 646-761-5579