Groups call for stricter gun laws following 2 shootings
U.S. ‘desensitized,’ 1 speaker claims
Several Pittsburgh community and advocacy groups came together Thursday to demand the passage of stricter gun controls following two mass shootings in recent weeks.
Leaders from organizations such as the Black Political Empowerment Project, the NAACP Pittsburgh Branch, CeaseFirePA, Voices Against Violence and the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh also called for an end to discrimination against Asian Americans, a group shaken by the killing of six women of Asian descent in Georgia last week.
The groups held a news conference at B-PEP headquarters in the Hill District to address the Georgia shootings and another massacre Monday in Boulder, Colo.
“Since the beginning of [ COVID- 19] going back to March 2020, the group that has gotten a tremendous amount of venomous thoughts, words and actions hurled at them have been our Asian brothers and sisters,” said Tim Stevens, chairman and CEO of B-PEP.
But the news conference also focused on the wider issue of gun violence in the U.S. and the calls for action to stem the problem through tougher legislation.
Josh Fleitman, Western Pennsylvania manager for
CeaseFirePA, pointed out that mass shootings are just a part of the tens of thousands of gun deaths in the country every year. He said increased regulation could decrease suicides, domestic violence and street violence.
“We know there are solutions out there that can respect responsible gun ownership but that can save lives and make our communities safer,” Mr. Fleitman said. “So I urge our elected officials to join us in this fight.”
The request to contact legislators was echoed by Richard Carrington, the founder and executive director of Voices Against Violence. Mr. Carrington listed the community spaces in which mass shootings have occurred in recent years, such as churches, schools, movie theaters and supermarkets.
“We have become desensitized to what is going on,” he said.
The news conference also brought reminders of the emotions from the Tree of Life synagogue mass shooting, which killed 11
Jewish worshippers in Pittsburgh in the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history.
That tragedy is part of a list of major shootings targeting minorities, including Black worshippers at a church in South Carolina and LGBTQ people in a nightclub in Florida, said Laura Cherner, director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Community Relations Council.
Now, the killings in Georgia have focused on the Asian community, Ms. Cherner said. “I hope that our leadership has the courage and conviction to act so we do not have to keep adding to this list.”
She added, “As we said over two years ago when the Jewish community was attacked, it could have been any of us. And it has been.”