Our Basic Right To Safety Is Undermined By Gun Violence
NEW YORK (March 23, 2021) -- National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial today issued the following statement in response to yesterday’s mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado:
“Once again, the nation is stunned and grieving after yet another mass shooting. A gunman armed with an assault rifle opened fire in a supermarket, killing 10 people including the first officer on the scene. The attack comes just six days after a gunman targeting targeted Asian women killed eight people in Atlanta.
“At least 20 people have been killed and 27 injured in mass shootings over the past week. Three of the shootings – two at nightclubs in Houston and Dallas and one a party in Philadelphia – all happened on the same day. Yesterday’s shooting occurred just a week after state District Judge Andrew Hartman ruled in favor of the NRA and blocked Boulder from enforcing a ban on assault weapons like the one used yesterday.
“We grieve the loss of these lives and the many lives lost or forever changed by injury due to gun violence every year. Our basic right to safety is undermined by gun violence. Without action at the federal level, innocent lives will continue to be senselessly lost. More guns were sold in 2020 than any year in history: at least 20 million, an increase of more than 7 and a half million over 2019. There were more than 43,500 deaths by gunfire in 2020, including almost 300 children under the age of 11.
“Today the Senate Judiciary Committee convened a hearing on proposals to reduce gun violence. As Senator Richard Blumenthal, chair of the Subcommittee on the Constitution pointed out, even states with strong gun laws are still at the mercy of the ones with the weakest, because guns have no respect for state boundaries. That’s why we need federal solutions to stem the tide of gun violence. Gun law inconsistencies from city-to-city and state-to-state leave our communities vulnerable to underground gun markets and loopholes, with Black and Brown communities suffering disproportionate rates of gun homicide as a result.
“The Senate must immediate pass the bills passed by the House last week to expand of background checks and give federal law enforcement more time to vet gun buyers. We also support the reinstatement of the assault weapons ban as proposed today by President Biden.
“The National Urban League is fully committed to common sense gun violence prevention and reduction strategies and we call on every member of Congress to join us in that commitment. We cannot wait any longer. We deserve to feel safe.”