Statement on Seattle Pacific University Shooting

Everytown for Gun Safety released the following statements from John Feinblatt, President of Everytown and Shannon Watts, Founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, in response to today’s shooting at Seattle Pacific University that killed one person and reportedly injured at least two more. Today’s shooting was the 73rd school shooting since the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut where 20 children and six faculty members were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary.

“Gun violence has tragically made its way onto our college campuses again and our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their loved ones and the students and faculty of SPU,” said John Feinblatt, President of Everytown for Gun Safety. “While we don’t know all the details yet, events like these remind us of the epidemic of gun violence that kills 86 Americans every day. We have been inspired by the words of Richard Martinez, father of a UCSB shooting victim, and we once again call on our political leaders to pass commonsense reforms so that ‘not one more’ life is senselessly taken by gun violence.”

“As a mother sending my daughter to college this fall, I can’t imagine anything more devastating than losing a child to gun violence,” said Shannon Watts, Founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.  “When we send our kids to school each day or off to college, we shouldn’t have to worry about whether the next shooting will be at their school. Less than two weeks ago, senseless gun violence took the lives of three people near the campus of UC Santa Barbara and today, one person is dead and at least two more were injured on the campus of Seattle Pacific University. In the wake of heartbreaking events like these, Americans across the country are coming together and echoing the words of Richard Martinez by saying ‘Not One More’ to urge our elected officials to take action to help end gun violence.”

Last week, in response to an impassioned plea by a UCSB victim’s father that “Not One More” should die from gun violence, Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America launched a postcard campaign that makes it easy for Americans to automatically send postcards to their elected officials – available here. Since the campaign launched last Tuesday, more than 500,000 Americans have signed up to send more than two million postcards.  For every American who signs up, Everytown will deliver postcards to each individual’s U.S. House representative, two U.S. Senators and governor.