March, 11 2009, 02:03pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence*
Peter Hamm, 202-898-0792,
phamm@bradymail.org
*See full list below
Alabama Shooting Shows Need for Assault Weapons Ban Say National Groups
Following yesterday's assault weapon
rampage shooting in Alabama leaving 11 dead including the shooter,
America's leading national gun violence prevention organizations--Brady
Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, Freedom States
Alliance, Legal Community Against Violence, and Violence Policy Center-- issued
the following joint statement:
"Our sympathies go to all those affected by this
terrible tragedy.
WASHINGTON
Following yesterday's assault weapon
rampage shooting in Alabama leaving 11 dead including the shooter,
America's leading national gun violence prevention organizations--Brady
Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, Freedom States
Alliance, Legal Community Against Violence, and Violence Policy Center-- issued
the following joint statement:
"Our sympathies go to all those affected by this
terrible tragedy.
"The guns used in yesterday's rampage shooting across
Alabama--a Bushmaster AR-15-style assault rifle and an SKS assault rifle--are
military-bred firearms developed for the specific purpose of killing human
beings quickly and efficiently. Yesterday's shooting is only the
latest addition to a string of preventable tragedies committed with these
military-style weapons. America
needs an effective federal assault weapons ban to stop the mass production and
marketing by the gun industry of these anti-personnel weapons. Today we
call on the U.S. Congress to pass a federal assault weapons ban modeled on California's
effective law that would ban these weapons once and for all.
"The answer to gun violence is not more guns. Alabama has one of the
highest gun ownership rates in the nation-more than 57 percent of the
state's households have guns-and some of the weakest gun laws in
the country. At the same time, its overall gun death rate for 2005 (16.18
per 100,000) ranks it fifth in the nation. The sad truth is that America
will continue to experience these horrific events until Congress listens to the
friends and families of the 30,000 Americans who die from guns each year
instead of the National Rifle Association."
***
Contacts: Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence,
Peter Hamm, 202-898-0792, phamm@bradymail.org;
Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, Ladd Everitt, 202-408-0061 x1003, leveritt@csgv.org; Freedom States Alliance,
Scott Vogel, 312-243-8980, scott@freedomstatesalliance.org;
Legal Community Against Violence, Julie Leftwich, 415-433-2062, jleftwich@lcav.org; Violence Policy
Center, Mandy Wimmer, 202-822-8200
x110, mwimmer@vpc.org
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