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Statement

America’s Leaders Must Face Catastrophe of 22 School Shootings and Take Action Now

May 18, 2018
Gun Control

Lisa Lederer, 202-371-1996

Statement from Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, CEO and executive director of MomsRising, an online and on-the-ground organization of more than one million mothers and their families, on the shootings at Santa Fe High School in Galveston County, Texas, this morning:

“It is not even summer and already there have been 22 shootings at schools in our country this year. One school shooting would be horrifying; 22 is catastrophic and absolutely unacceptable. Our children deserve better than growing up in fear that they will be shot at the place they go to learn.
 
“Ten people were killed and ten wounded according to current reports, and many lives were irreversibly altered by this morning’s shooting at Santa Fe High School. America’s moms mourn every person killed and every child victimized and traumatized by the epidemic of gun violence that is plaguing our country.
 
“America’s moms also know that we cannot allow this level of violence to continue -- and that our communities are calling on all of us, including everyone in Congress, to step forward for our community safety.  After the gun violence at their school, the survivors from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland -- as well as students, teachers, and moms and dads across our nation -- have shown (and continue to show) remarkable courage in demanding action. Yet lawmakers have yet to adequately respond. The status quo – where there is a mass shooting in a school nearly every week – is simply unacceptable.
 
“The country needs meaningful gun safety reforms now – not incremental reforms or ineffective and dangerous proposals like arming teachers. It is past time we get all military-style assault weapons with high-capacity magazines out of the hands of civilians. It is past time for mandatory universal background checks. It is past time we invest in community-based anti-violence programs. And it is past time all our elected leaders reject the demands of the gun lobby, refuse their campaign contributions and put the safety of children and families first.
 
“The emerging student activism on guns, and the turnout at the March for Our Lives, were encouraging, but lawmakers are the only ones who can ultimately solve this problem. The time for thoughts and prayers is long past. Congress must act. The moms of America will no longer forgive their failure to keep our kids safe.”

 

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MomsRising.org is an on-the-ground and online grassroots organization of more than a million people who are working to increase family economic security, decrease discrimination against women and moms, and to build a nation where businesses and families can thrive. Established in 2006, MomsRising and its members are organizing and speaking out to improve public policy and to change the national dialogue on issues that are critically important to America’s families, including criminal justice reform, immigration policy reform, and gun safety. MomsRising is working for paid family and medical leave, affordable, high quality childcare and early learning, and for an end to the wage and hiring discrimination which penalizes women — particularly moms and women of color — and so many others. MomsRising advocates for access to healthy food for all kids, health care for all, earned sick days, and breastfeeding rights so that all children can have a healthy start. MomsRising maintains a Spanish language website: MamásConPoder.org. Sign up online at www.MomsRising.org — and follow us on our blog, and on Twitter and Facebook.