NEW YORK — Today, Everytown for Gun Safety released the following statements in response to the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old student in Soho, New York. While information is still emerging, there are reports that the teenager was shot next to the Dominick Hotel on Spring Street, near several high schools. Police are still looking for the suspects.
“Today’s shooting is a reminder to each of us: it could be your child,” said Nick Suplina, senior vice president for law and policy at Everytown, whose son attends a nearby high school which was placed in lockdown. “No parent should worry that their child won’t make it home from school safe, but that’s the reality we’re living in because the gun lobby would rather arm Americans to the teeth than protect our communities.”
“Our communities should be rooted in safety, not gun violence. The fact that we live in a reality where gun violence can erupt at a moment’s notice is terrifying,” said Reem Khalifa, a member of the Students Demand Action National Organizing Board and student in New York City. “Easy access to guns is taking the lives of my generation left and right. Gun violence is the leading cause of death for children, teens, and college-aged people in the United States and today is just the latest example. One life taken is one too many. We have to do better.”
Earlier today, more than 200 New York Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action volunteers rallied in Albany for their advocacy day to urge for continued action on gun safety in the state. The rally came hours after lawmakers announced the introduction of a first-in-the-nation legislative package to hold the firearm manufacturer Glock accountable for enabling the spread of illegal machine guns in our communities by refusing to redesign its pistols, which are uniquely susceptible to being converted into machine guns using auto sears commonly known as “Glock switches.”
There have been 60 shooting incidents in the last month in New York City, according to the NYPD. In an average year in New York, 960 people die by guns and 2,841 people are wounded. Gun violence costs New York $11.4 billion each year, of which $301.2 million is paid by taxpayers. More information on gun violence in New York is available here.