Stop Handgun Violence Response to Santa Fe High School Mass Shooting
Boston, MA– This morning, news of another horrific mass school shooting in Santa Fe Texas broke leaving at least 10 dead and an unknown number of students and teachers injured. According to the Gun Violence Archive this is the 35thschool shooting where someone has been killed or injured this year and the 24thschool shooting since the Parkland FL mass shooting on February 14, 2018.
In Texas, which has a gun death rate of 12.1 deaths per 100,000 population (compared to 3.5 per 100,000 population in MA), no criminal background check is required for private gun sales, including for military style assault weapons and high capacity ammunition magazines. In addition, there is no limit on the number of firearms that can be purchased at one time and gun owners are not required to have a license, register their firearms, or report lost or stolen firearms.
“While the details of this horrific massacre continue to emerge, our hearts and thoughts are with victims of this attack and the Santa Fe community” said John Rosenthal, founder and chairman of Stop Handgun Violence. “While the shooter’s motives are still unclear, one thing is blatantly obvious: The time for action is long overdue. There is a mass shooting of four or more people every day in the United States. States, like Texas, with lax gun laws have more preventable gun violence than States with tougher gun laws. Congress and the President’s unconscionable priority of unrestricted access to guns over the 35,000 lives lost each year and over 150,000 injuries from gun violence each year, has disastrous consequences. Unrestricted access to firearms in this country is a dangerous policy with brutal and endless consequences for the victims, families and communities that are all too frequently impacted.”
Stop Handgun Violence(SHV) is a Massachusetts based non-profit organization committed to the prevention of gun violence through education, public awareness, effective law enforcement and common sense gun laws. SHV has been the lead advocate in Massachusetts for enactment of the most effective gun violence prevention laws and first in the nation consumer protection regulations. 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