(Long Island, NY) NYAGV released the following statement following last night’s shooting that killed three and injured four after a Boys and Girls Club basketball game in Rochester.
We are outraged and saddened by yet another mass shooting in a public place where our young people should feel safe. The US has 30 percent of the population of all comparable OECD nations yet it has 90 percent of the gun homicides.
The difference is easy to explain: our weak federal gun laws make it ridiculously easy for dangerous people to get their hands on a gun. There are no universal background checks, the penalties for gun trafficking are the same as those for trafficking chickens, and high capacity ammunition magazines and military-purposed assault weapons are perfectly legal.
This mass shooting shows that New York, which has some of the nation’s strongest gun laws and one of the lowest rates of gun deaths, is not immune from the national gun violence epidemic. Our laws can’t stop the flow of illegal guns into our state from states like Virginia, Georgia, and Florida. Nearly 70% of recovered crime guns in New York and 90% in New York City originate in these and other weak gun law states. New Yorkers must demand that local and state leaders tell the public where these illegal guns are coming from since 90% of crime guns come from just 5% of all licensed gun dealers.
In a race to the bottom over the last decade, twenty-seven states have enacted Shoot First or Stand Your Ground laws, nine states have passed laws allowing guns onto college campuses and six states now allow anyone to carry a concealed gun in public. Loosening gun laws has had a predictable result. Gun deaths have risen 6% over the last four years and mass shootings have nearly tripled since 2011.
Congress has been too cowed by the National Rifle Association and its army of lobbyists to enact common sense measures to keep guns out of dangerous hands like background checks on all gun sales and making gun trafficking a felony. It’s time for the American people to get angry and demand that this change. Otherwise, the senseless slaughter will continue.
New Yorkers Against Gun Violence is a statewide advocacy group working to reduce gun violence through advocacy and education designed to encourage action, influence public opinion and lead to policy change. With a primary focus on New York State, the organization also advocates at the local and national levels for sensible gun laws, policies and practices that protect New York State residents from gun violence.
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