Sandy Hook School Shooting Survivor, Moms Demand Action, Everytown Respond to Trump Tweet on High School Shooting in Benton, Kentucky, That Killed Two Fifteen-Year-Olds

Marshall County High School Shooting is at Least the 10th School Shooting in 2018; 283rd School Shooting Since 2013

A Day after the Shooting, President Trump Tweeted His “Thoughts and Prayers” in Response

NEW YORK – A day after a 15-year-old student shot and killed two other students and shot and injured 14 more at Marshall County High School in Benton, Kentucky, the President tweeted his “thoughts and prayers.” This was the third school shooting in two days and at least the 10th so far in 2018. According to Everytown research, it was at least the 283rd since January 2013. Everytown and Moms Demand Action have kept an index of school shootings in America since 2013 – recording anytime a firearm is discharged inside a school building or on a school campus or grounds.

STATEMENT FROM ERICA LAFFERTY, WHOSE MOTHER DAWN LAFFERTY HOCHSPRUNG, THE PRINCIPAL AT SANDY HOOK SCHOOL, DIED WHILE PROTECTING HER STUDENTS. ERICA IS A PROGRAMS MANAGER AT EVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY AND MEMBER OF THE EVERYTOWN SURVIVOR NETWORK:

“Thoughts and prayers don’t bring back my mother and they don’t prevent the next daughter from having her mother gunned down. It’s long past time our elected leaders – starting at the top – stop offering mere words to Americans when they’re shot. Inaction is not a solution to gun violence in our country. Until we see our nation’s politicians take actual steps to prevent gun violence and stop subscribing to the policy prescriptions of the NRA, we’ll continue to see lives taken by gun violence.”

STATEMENT FROM SHANNON WATTS, FOUNDER OF MOMS DEMAND ACTION FOR GUN SENSE IN AMERICA:

“While the President sends his ‘thoughts and prayers’ without action, two children are dead and others are fighting for their lives. And while some of our nation’s leaders and lawmakers may be numb to the daily toll of gun violence in America, parents across the country are outraged and terrified that their child will be next. We have a gun violence crisis in this country – one that President Trump and his allies in the NRA continue to ignore. It’s morally repugnant that President Trump will not offer more than ‘thoughts and prayers,’ and we must use our voices to demand that our leaders finally take this crisis seriously.”