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New Jersey Moms Demand Action, Students Demand Action, Everytown Respond To A Mass Shooting In Jersey City

12.10.2019

This Shooting is at Least the 29th Mass Shooting in 2019 and 223rd Since 2009

JERSEY CITY, N.J — Today, the New Jersey chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and the Jersey City chapter of Students Demand Action, both a part of Everytown for Gun Safety, released the following statements after reports of multiple fatalities, including one law enforcement officer, and several others shot and wounded during a mass shooting in Jersey City, sending the city’s 43 public schools into lockdown.

“While details are still unfolding, we know that people shouldn’t have to worry about gun violence every time they leave their house, or every time they send their kids to school, said Emily Jabbour, a volunteer with the New Jersey chapter of Moms Demand Action. “Jersey City is too often the scene of gun violence that doesn’t make the news, and today, our city was once again devastated by horrific acts of violence that will traumatize those who live, work and go to school in our community. Students, some of whom may already live in fear of gun violence, experienced the trauma of their schools feeling unsafe, too, because of the school lockdowns throughout the city. Something has to change.”

“Just over six months ago, Jersey City Students Demand Action joined with community partners and marched down Martin Luther King Drive to honor victims and survivors of gun violence,” Olivia Durham, a volunteer with Hudson County Students Demand Action. “Today, that same street was the scene of a tragedy, where multiple people were killed and several more were wounded. Thankfully, our schools and law enforcement acted quickly to keep students safe, but in a city where daily gun violence is an unfortunate reality, events like this interrupt our education and put a cloud of fear over our everyday lives. We don’t have to live like this.”

Nearly 500 people die from gun violence in New Jersey in an average year, most of them in homicides. Communities like Trenton, Newark and Jersey City experience gun violence on a daily basis. More information on national, state and local toll of gun violence is available on EveryStat, a new resource from Everytown for Gun Safety.

Research by Everytown for Gun Safety shows that this is at least the 223rd mass shooting since January 2009, and the 29th mass shooting this year. Everytown defines mass shootings as those in which four or more people are shot and killed, excluding the shooter. A new analysis of mass shootings from 2009 to 2018 shows there were a total of 194 mass shootings, which left 1,121 people dead and an additional 836 people wounded.