The Colorado chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, both part of Everytown for Gun Safety, released the following statements after a mass shooting in Colorado Springs in which six people were shot and killed at a birthday party Sunday morning. Details are still developing, but reports indicate the shooter was the boyfriend of one of the victims.
“This shooting is another unthinkable tragedy in our state,” said Julie Carr, a volunteer with Colorado Moms Demand Action. “Coloradans deserve better than to wake up to the news showing more senseless gun violence. We deserve to feel safe going to a birthday party, the grocery store or our schools. We are committed to fighting to make sure our state is safer for our neighbors and communities.”
“Unfortunately, Colorado is no stranger to senseless gun violence,” said Ava Rehbeck, a volunteer with Students Demand Action at the University of Colorado Boulder. “Our hearts are with the loved ones of those shot and killed — who now join a club of gun violence survivors no one wants to be a part of — and the communities they helped build, nurture and grow.”
This shooting comes in a year of devastating shootings across the United States including mass shootings in Indianapolis, Baltimore County, Md., Orange, Calif., Boulder, Colo.,Allen, Texas,Rock Hill, S.C., a series of shootings in massage parlors around metro Atlanta, and several police shootings, including that of Daunte Wright and Adam Toledo, as well as countless acts of senseless gun violence that don’t make the headlines.
Research by Everytown for Gun Safety shows that this is at least the 253rd mass shooting since January 2009, and that more than half of mass shootings are domestic violence-related, and that more than half of mass shootings are domestic violence-related. Every day in the U.S. on average, more than 100 people are killed with guns, and more than 230 are wounded — the majority of which do not take place during mass shootings.
In an average year, 805 people die by gun violence in Colorado and 360 more are wounded. More information about gun violence in Colorado is available here.