Shooting is at Least 9th Mass Killing in 2016 – and at Least the 150th Since 2009; Everytown Research (And Visuals) on Gun Violence by the Numbers Available Here
NEW YORK – Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a part of Everytown, released the following statements today after news reports that 50 people were killed and many more injured after a shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando. This is the 9th mass shooting in 2016 and the 150th mass shooting since 2009, when Everytown began tracking shootings in which four or more people are killed. The shooting last night in Orlando is the largest mass shooting in American history. Everytown’s research and analysis of mass shootings is available here.
STATEMENT FROM SHANNON WATTS, FOUNDER OF MOMS DEMAND ACTION:
“I am saddened and outraged that yet another American community is being traumatized by a mass shooting. Last night, lives where cut short and forever changed in a place where they should feel safe. Yet every single day, 91 Americans are killed by gun violence, and hundreds more are injured. We will never accept these shootings as the new normal, and we must continue to demand our lawmakers act and work to keep guns out of dangerous hands. The phrase “another mass shooting” does not have to be a part of the American vocabulary.”
STATEMENT FROM ANDREA HALPERIN, VOLUNTEER LEADER WITH THE FLORIDA CHAPTER OF MOMS DEMAND ACTION:
“Once again, Americans woke up today and learned that people were senselessly killed last night, targeted in a place where we should be safe to enjoy ourselves. Last summer it was a movie theater, today it is a nightclub. Our hearts ache for the families of the 20 killed, many more injured – and the entire Orlando community. This shooting happened just a day after a Christina Grimmie, a young woman with a bright future ahead of her was killed in Orlando. This is madness and it must stop. We need more than thoughts and prayers – we urge all Americans who feel the same to join us and demand that our political leaders take action to end the bloodshed that kills so many.”
Yesterday Everytown and Moms Demand Action released a statement (available here) from Lucy McBath, an outreach leader, whose son Jordan Davis was killed at a Florida gas station over a dispute about loud music.