NEW YORK — Everytown for Gun Safety and its grassroots networks, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, released the following statements today ahead of Sunday’s six-year mark of the mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, in which 11 congregants were shot and killed and six others were wounded during Shabbat morning services. The mass shooting is remembered as the deadliest antisemitic attack in United States history.
“Six years ago, antisemitism armed with a gun murdered innocent congregants during Shabbat morning services at the Tree of Life Synagogue. We say the Mourner’s Kaddish to remember the lives taken from us,” said Mallory Beatty, a volunteer with the Pennsylvania chapter of Moms Demand Action. “We must unite to create a safer future stronger than hate to combat antisemitism, where every individual can practice their faith without fear. That starts with electing gun sense champions at every level who are committed to a future free from gun violence and will pass common sense gun safety laws that disarm hate and keep our communities safe.”
Since the Tree of Life shooting, antisemitism has only continued to rise in the United States. Threats to Jews in the United States tripled in the one-year period, according to data from the Anti-Defamation League. More than 10,000 antisemitic incidents occurred between last October 2023, and September 2024 – up from 3,325 incidents during the same period of the year before. That marks the most incidents recorded in a 12-month period by the organization since it began tracking threats in 1979.
Over 25,000 hate crimes in the US involve a firearm in an average year — an estimated 69 a day. Under federal law, many violent hate crime misdemeanors do not prohibit a person from buying a gun, but some states have enacted laws to make sure that people with hate crime convictions can’t get guns. More information on the intersection between hate crimes and firearms is available here.
In an average year, 1,759 people die and 4,020 are wounded by guns in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has the 30th-highest rate of gun violence in the US. Pennsylvania has the 33rd-highest societal cost of gun violence in the US at $1,692 per resident each year. Gun deaths and injuries cost Pennsylvania $21.7 billion each year, of which $470.7 million is paid by taxpayers.