WASHINGTON — Everytown for Gun Safety, and its grassroots network, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, issued the following statements ahead of the start of Hispanic Heritage Month on Sunday.
“This month, we celebrate the rich vibrancy of our Hispanic community. For gun safety advocates like myself, Hispanic Heritage Month is a powerful reminder of how disproportionately our community is affected by gun violence. This is a time to spotlight the ongoing efforts so future generations can live free from the threat of gun violence, ”said Rudy Espinoza, a volunteer with Moms Demand Action. “Gun violence continues to devastate our communities, but we refuse to lose the next generation of Latinx leaders to this crisis. This year, volunteers are changing the narrative, reclaiming our power and fighting for a future where our children are free to be themselves without the fear of gun violence dimming their light.”
“Young Latinx voices hold immense power in the fight to end gun violence, as we sit at the intersection between its impacts on both our communities and our generation,” said Sophia Mauad, a volunteer leader with Students Demand Action. “This month, and throughout the year we must reflect on how gun violence has affected Latinx communities while also recognizing that this crisis does not define us. We’ll continue to embrace our rich cultures and fight for our safety so that we can live the American dream that our parents and grandparents wanted for us. Together we’re turning pain into purpose and building a better future free from fear, where every Latinx family can thrive.”
This year, as gun violence continues to disproportionately impact the Latinx community, and in the wake of continued hateful rhetoric and bias that threatens to exacerbate violence, Latinx Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action volunteers are running for office, and organizing like never before to make their voices heard, share their stories, and put gun safety front and center in the 2024 elections.
A snapshot of some of the Latinx volunteers-turned candidates running on gun safety:
- Aaron Márquez, candidate for Arizona State House, AZ-LD-05: Aaron grew up in Arizona, served his country through two deployments to Afghanistan, and is a member of Everytown’s Veteran Advisory Council. Most recently, Aaron co-founded VetsForward.us, a group of progressive military veterans in Arizona who work to defend democratic values at home by winning the hearts and minds of American voters.
- Micheal Garza, candidate for Georgia State Representative, GA-HD-46: Micheal is an active member of his community, and has been an active Moms volunteer and former leader. In 2023, Michael served as a Demand a Seat recruiter for Georgia, and was a 2022 Demand a Seat Boot Camp participant.
- Sandra Jauregui, candidate for Nevada State Assembly, District 41: Sandra is the current Majority Floor Leader running for reelection to the Nevada State Assembly. In 2017, Sandra was on the scene of the Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting that took the lives of 60 people and wounded more than 400 attendees. Sandra survived the shooting and has made gun violence prevention a key priority in her work as a legislator.
This month, Latinx Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action volunteers will continue taking life-saving action, sharing their stories, and advocating for common-sense gun safety laws and gun sense candidates to break the deadly cycles of gun violence. To learn more about Latinx stories in the gun safety movement visit here.
Latinx families bear some of the heaviest burdens of firearm violence, dying from gun violence every day and at rates that are disproportionate to those of their white counterparts. This year, we have seen horrific attacks targeting Latinx families, including in Crete, Nebraska, where an elderly white man shot and wounded seven people of Guatemalan descent at their home after telling them to “go back to where they came from.” In Montgomery, Alabama, three men were shot and killed in what police described as a “hunt” targeting Latinx-owned businesses.
A 2019 report found that 10 percent of Latinx adults had been victimized by a hate crime in the past year, though only eight percent of those victimized felt comfortable reporting the crime to police.
Each year, nearly 5,000 Latinx people die from gun violence in the US. Nearly two-thirds of all gun deaths among Latinx people in the United States are homicides, and Latinx people are more than twice as likely to die by gun homicide and four times as likely to be wounded by an assault with a gun as white people. More information on the disproportionate impact of gun violence on Latinx communities is available here.