Same Day, Different Year, Another Mass Shooting: A Call for Urgent Action
/by Po Murray
Our hearts are with the families of the victims and the Michigan State University community, shattered by another deadly preventable mass shooting incident.
According to the Washington Post, the 43-year-old gunman was arrested in 2019 for possessing guns without a concealed carry permit, charged again with possession of a loaded firearm in a vehicle, and had a note in his pocket with threats against two schools in Ewing, New Jersey.
Michigan has weak gun laws. Michigan has not yet passed universal background check legislation, open carry ban, red flag law, assault weapons ban, or limits on high-capacity magazines.
The Newtown community knows too well what the East Lansing community is going through today. Over 10 years ago, Newtown endured a similar day of terror after a gunman with an AR-15 and high-capacity magazines killed 20 children and six educators in less than five minutes.
The Parkland community also knows too well what they are going through. Today (February 14) is the 5-year mark of the Parkland tragedy, when a gunman with an AR15 killed 17 students and educators and wounded 17 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Each and every new mass shooting incident is triggering and re-traumatizing for the survivors and the community members who have been impacted by these preventable atrocities. Today is also the 15-year mark of the Northern Illinois University shooting in DeKalb, Illinois, where a 27-year-old gunman with 4 guns killed five students and wounded 17 others.
“Each and every new mass shooting incident is triggering and re-traumatizing for the survivors and the community members who have been impacted by these preventable atrocities.”
For over a decade, we have worked tirelessly and unapologetically with gun violence survivors and a coalition of diverse advocacy groups to pass a set of bold comprehensive federal gun legislation that would dramatically reduce these mass shooting incidents and all forms of gun violence in America.
After the Buffalo, Uvalde, and Highland Park mass shootings, 15 Senate Republicans and 14 House Republicans broke from the National Rifle Association, National Shooting Sports Foundation, and the gun industry and voted with Democrats to pass the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. These Republicans did not suffer politically during Midterms for voting for gun safety legislation for the first time in three decades. The fact is gun violence prevention is the high political ground.
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act was a step in the right direction but it was not enough to end the gun violence public health crisis in our nation. If Senate Republicans are unwilling to pass additional gun control legislation, then we urge the Senate Democrats to end the filibuster. We call on Congress to urgently pass the policies outlined in the Denver Accord starting with legislation to:
● Require background checks on all gun and ammunition purchases
● Require permits to purchase guns
● Ban assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, bump stocks, ghost guns, 3D guns
● Require gun owners to safely store their guns in their homes and cars
● Repeal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act to remove the gun industry’s legal shield
● Adequately fund the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to enforce existing gun laws
● Increase investments for community violence intervention programs
● Increase funding for gun violence research
● Protect kids from dangerous gun marketing tactics
● Reform policing
We also call on members of Congress to stop glorifying guns by wearing AR15 pins on the House floor, posting photos of themselves caressing their weapons of war on their laps or having their children pose for family Christmas cards holding AR15s.
We call on President Joe Biden to continue to lead on the federal gun violence prevention efforts by:
● Meeting with members of Congress individually to secure votes for lifesaving gun bills
● Declaring a national emergency around the epidemic of gun violence and establishing a federal office of gun violence prevention and appoint a full-time director to streamline the federal, state, and local government’s efforts to save lives.
● Calling on Congress to commit $5 billion in funding for community violence intervention programs that help disrupt cycles of interpersonal gun violence, encourage states to apply for and increase available funding for community violence prevention, and incentivize states and cities to establish offices of gun violence prevention.
● Announcing a series of executive actions to reduce gun deaths, including fully enforcing the ban on importation of foreign-made assault weapons that do not have a “sporting purpose” and instructing the Federal Trade Commission to promulgate regulations that prohibit unfair or deceptive acts or practices related to the advertising or marketing of firearms to minors.
● Using the office and power of the President to communicate the scope of this crisis with the American people and develop honest, educational, and culturally relevant public campaigns that focus on the inherent risks of keeping firearms in the home, especially around child access and suicide.
● Outlining a detailed plan to fully implement the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, including ensuring that funding for violence intervention is directed to communities most impacted by violence and youth-focused violence prevention programs in schools, training NICS investigators to properly conduct background checks on gun buyers under age 21, addressing the background check loophole by clarifying who is considered “engaged in the business” of selling firearms, and using the new firearms trafficking statute to target the largest sources of crime guns.
● Returning assault weapons and high-capacity magazine export licensing authority from the Commerce Department back to the State Department, which has deep expertise in foreign instability, human rights abuses, and terrorism.
“...it can happen to anyone anywhere anytime in a nation with 400 million civilian owned guns and lax gun laws. ”
We call on Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan State Legislature to pass lifesaving gun bills that were passed in Connecticut after the Sandy Hook school shooting.
We call on all Americans to contact their members of Congress to urge them to pass these policies before gun violence impacts them. We want to send another stark message to all Americans that if a mass shooting can happen in Sandy Hook, Parkland, Santa Fe, Santa Clarita, Uvalde, and Michigan State University, then it can happen to anyone anywhere anytime in a nation with 400 million civilian owned guns and lax gun laws.
The time is now for all elected officials from all levels of government to do their job by acting urgently to protect our children and loved ones from gun violence.
Po Murray is Chairwoman of Newtown Action Alliance. This statement was released statement in response to the Michigan State University mass shooting incident in East Lansing, Michigan, where a 43-year-old gunman killed three students and wounded five others on Monday, February 13, 2023. Newtown Action Alliance (http://alliance.newtownaction.org/) is a Newtown-based, national grassroots organization formed after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings.
