STATEMENT OF STOP HANDGUN VIOLENCE
Boston, MA – May 5, 2015 — The electronic counter on the 252×20-foot Stop Handgun Violence billboard on the Massachusetts Turnpike, which records and tallies daily American gun deaths since the Newtown shootings based on historical averages (83 gun deaths per day), will hit 75,000 tomorrow – a number that is about seven times the number of Ebola victims worldwide last year. As previously announced, the billboard is set to come down soon.
That is 75,000 Americans killed by guns in just 29 months.
“This horrific death toll should be more than enough to convince Congress to at least require criminal background checks for all gun sales. Instead, during the same period, we have seen private sales background checks fail to pass in the US Senate and many states have actually made it easier for forbidden purchasers, including criminals, domestic abusers and the mentally ill to get guns,” said John Rosenthal, founder of Stop Handgun Violence. “The fact that Congress has not done anything about this public health epidemic is shameful, especially since there have been another 118 school shootings since the Sandy Hook massacre. How many more Americans have to die before Congress takes action?”
While there has been real progress in states like Massachusetts, Washington, Connecticut, California and most recently Oregon, there is still much to do.
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Stop Handgun Violence is a non-profit organization committed to the prevention of gun violence through education, public awareness, effective law enforcement and common sense gun laws. The organization does not seek to restrict Constitutional rights, but advocates only for common sense legislation that will help save lives. For more information, go to www.stophandgunviolence.org.