The California chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, both part of Everytown for Gun Safety, released the following statements after five people were shot, four fatally, at an office building in Orange, California on Wednesday evening. One of the victims was a child. According to authorities, the shooting was the deadliest mass shooting in the city since 1997.
“Once again, our community and nation are reeling from senseless gun violence,” said Patricia Boe, a volunteer leader with California Moms Demand Action in Orange County. “This shooting is another reminder — on top of the 100 people who are shot and killed and hundreds more wounded every day — that our nation needs more than thoughts and prayers. We need action. Our hearts are with those impacted by this tragic act.”
“This shooting is heartbreaking, and the fact that this feels like a ‘return to normal’ is unacceptable,” said Eden Bjornson, a volunteer with Students Demand Action in Orange County. “What should be normal is parents leaving the office knowing they will make it home to their families and loved ones. We need our lawmakers to strengthen our federal gun laws and protect our communities from tragedies like this.”
This shooting comes shortly after a mass shooting in Baltimore County, a mass shooting in Boulder where ten people were shot and killed, including one police officer, at a grocery store, and series of shootings in massage parlors around metro Atlanta, in which nine people were shot, eight fatally — six of whom were Asian women.
Research by Everytown for Gun Safety shows that this is at least the 248th mass shooting since January 2009 in which four or more people were killed, not including the shooter. Every day in the U.S. on average, more than 100 people are killed with guns, and more than 230 are wounded —most in shootings that are not mass shootings.
In an average year, 3,090 people die by gun violence in California and 6,843 more are wounded. More information about gun violence in California is available here.