Spate of Mass Shootings Demands Response from All Elected Officials

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 4, 2019

CONTACT
Hayley Burgess, [email protected], 202-805-0375

Spate of Mass Shootings Demands Response from All Elected Officials

LOS ANGELES — Dozens of people were killed and even more injured by mass shooters in Dayton, Ohio; El Paso, Texas; and Gilroy, California, over the past several days, with at least one shooting targeting Latinx and immigrant community members. Among the dead were community members and nationals of both the United States and Mexico who were engaging in everyday activities. Below is a statement from Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center:

“This morning, we woke to another mass shooting — another wake-up call for the nation. Nearly 30 people lost their lives in two massacres over one weekend. The entire nation should mourn.

“After each of these horrific events, politicians offer their thoughts and prayers and have tried to distract us from having fundamentally necessary, substantive conversations about how white supremacy and toxic masculinity, combined with an utter absence of common sense gun-safety laws, have made it impossible for anyone to feel fully safe in any public setting in America. The perpetrators of these mass killings are being shaped by the hateful and divisive narrative and accompanying policies at the federal, state, and local levels that marginalize and demonize immigrant, Black, brown, LGBTQ, and other communities.

“The spate of shootings should spur a national discussion about the cultural and policy changes we must make in order to end this epidemic of mass violence and domestic white terrorism that our country continues to grapple with. Only then will we begin to reclaim a sense of security when shopping, attending festivals, or enjoying a night out.”

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