WASHINGTON –– Everytown for Gun Safety and its grassroots networks, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, released the following statements after President Joe Biden’s remarks on yesterday’s mass shooting in Boulder in which at least 10 people were shot and killed. The president called for immediate Senate action, including passing background checks, closing the Charleston loophole, and prohibiting the possession of assault weapons and high capacity magazines.
These remarks also came one week after the mass shooting in Atlanta, in which 8 people were shot and killed –– including 6 Asian women –– and one wounded. More than 100 people in the U.S. are shot and killed by gun violence every day, and more than twice that many are wounded, in incidents of gun suicide, city gun violence, domestic gun violence, mass shootings, and more. Everytown recommends immediate legislative and executive action to combat this epidemic of gun violence.
“President Biden is right: this is the moment to act on gun safety,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “To end these senseless killings, we need more than thoughts and prayers –– we need the Senate to pass background checks, and we need this administration to take executive action to save lives. And we will not rest until that happens.”
“In the past week alone, two mass shootings have killed at least 18 people, wounded at least one more, and devastated our country –– while other types of gun violence continue to kill more than 100 people in the U.S. every day,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action. “We’ve waited 25 years for federal action on gun safety, and we cannot wait a moment longer. Our grassroots army of nearly 6 millions supporters will stop at nothing to make sure that the Senate passes background checks and this administration takes urgent action to save lives.”
“Five years before I was born, two shooters walked into Columbine High School and opened fire, killing 13 people and wounding dozens more,” said Jayla Hemphill, volunteer with Colorado Students Demand Action. “I’m now 17, and yesterday a man walked into the Table Mesa King Sooper and did the same, killing ten. The gun violence epidemic has lasted the span of my entire life, and there has not once been significant federal action to end it. The state of Colorado, and the entire country, feel the pain and tragedy of this crisis with every mass shooting. There have been enough thoughts and prayers from lawmakers to last a lifetime, we need federal action now.”
It has been more than 25 years since Congress passed meaningful federal gun safety legislation into law. Last Congress, the House of Representatives passed several pieces of gun safety legislation –– but then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) refused to bring any of them up for a vote in the Senate. Tens of thousands of people died from gun violence while those bills died on his desk.
Earlier this month, the House passed legislation to require background checks on all gun sales with bipartisan support. The Biden-Harris administration supported the bill, and President Biden released a statement saying “[t]he time to act is now” on gun safety.
Earlier this year, Everytown also released recommended executive actions that the Administration can take to begin addressing gun violence immediately. Key recommended actions include expanding our background check system, shutting down the market for untraceable ghost guns, and dramatically increasing funding for gun violence intervention programs.
Newly released polling shows that the American people agree, with more than four in five voters in all 50 states agreeing that no gun sale should take place without a background check. The polling also shows that this overwhelming support is bipartisan, with 84% of Independents and 83% of Republicans agreeing with background checks on all gun sales nationwide.
Earlier this morning, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on proposals to reduce gun violence. Robin Brule, a Moms Demand Action volunteer and survivor of gun violence whose mother was shot and killed in 2016, was among those who testified about the need for background checks and other constitutional, common-sense gun safety policies. Her full remarks are available here.
