Below is a joint statement put out by the Violence Policy Center, and signed by 32 national groups and leaders who work to prevent gun violence, including Ceasefire Oregon, regarding the recent shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin.
National, State, and Local Gun Violence Prevention Groups Issue Joint Statement on Wisconsin Sikh Temple Shooting
Washington, DC--Following the second gun massacre in a little over two weeks, this time at a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin leaving six victims dead and others critically wounded, national, state, and local gun violence prevention organizations (see list at bottom) issued the following joint statement:
“Our deepest sympathies go to all those affected by this terrible tragedy.
"Once again, a place where communities gather is the site of carnage because of our nation’s unwillingness to face the issue of gun violence. While our nation reels from yet another mass shooting in less than three weeks, our elected officials offer little beyond sympathy and words of reassurance. At the same time, the gun industry continues to churn out increasingly lethal weapons with no concern for the role they play in such violence. The victims and survivors of gun violence--from Aurora to Oak Creek to the next inevitable community--deserve better and demand more. The lives of the 30,000 Americans who die each year from firearms, their friends and families, and the communities decimated by gun violence must take precedence over the profit-driven goals of the gun industry. Each of our organizations calls on our elected leaders to take action to stop the next mass shooting. Congress must listen to those affected by gun death and injury, not those--like the National Rifle Association and the gun industry--who not only make such violence possible, but profit from it.”
National OrganizationsBrady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and its national network of chaptersCoalition to Stop Gun ViolenceLaw Center to Prevent Gun ViolenceProtest Easy GunsStates United to Prevent Gun ViolenceViolence Policy Center
State and Local OrganizationsArizonans for Gun SafetyWomen Against Gun Violence (California)Ceasefire MarylandCeasefire New Jersey (a project of the Coalition for Peace Action)CeaseFirePAColorado CeasefireConnecticut Against Gun Violence Education FundGeorgians for Gun SafetyGunFreeKids.orgGun Violence Prevention Center of UtahHawaii Coalition to Prevent Gun ViolenceHoosiers Concerned About Gun ViolenceIllinois Council Against Handgun ViolenceMaine Citizens Against Handgun ViolenceStop Handgun Violence (Massachusetts)Northland Brady Chapter (Minnesota)Million Mom March, Richmond, VA chapterNew Yorkers Against Gun ViolenceNorth Carolinians Against Gun ViolenceOhio Coalition Against Gun ViolenceLance Orchid, National Organizing Director, Gun Violence PreventionProtect MinnesotaVirginia Center for Public SafetyWashington CeaseFireWisconsin Anti-Violence Educational Fund
