For Immediate Release

(Croton Falls, NY) The Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus issued the following statement in response to today’s horrific school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas:

“At this writing, at least 21 people are dead, 19 innocent children and two adults, all victims in a mass shooting perpetrated by an 18 year old gunman at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. According to the Gun Violence Archive, this latest mass shooting is the 215th to take place in 2022 and marks the deadliest school shooting since the 2012 Sandy Hook Massacre.

We are the lucky ones, as we sat down to dinner tonight with family, most of us were joined by our kids and other loved ones. The ones who kissed the kids goodbye this morning, put them on the bus, drove them to school, watched them perform in a concert or play on a ballfield, and then saw them walk in the door at the end of the day.

Then, there are the parents, caregivers, and loved ones of the young kids killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX. Their worlds have been shattered beyond belief because their kids are not coming home today or ever.  Their kids won’t graduate from school. They won’t be able to achieve great things because someone with easy access to firearms snuffed out those dreams, adding more misery to the national nightmare that is gun violence in America.

We also lost a teacher today, whose personal story we all will know soon. What we do know is that this teacher got up this morning and went to work as they did every day seeking to care for the future of these kids and their community. This teacher touched lives for a living in a rural community – giving each student the tools to build their future. Someone shot and killed that teacher today, ending their potential to touch any more lives. In a small town every life has an impact, and teachers in a small town touch many more lives than most. Losing a teacher in a small town is losing a building block of that community’s soul.

Gun violence is now the LEADING CAUSE of death among young people in America.  There are over 350 million guns in civilian hands. Some say with so many guns in private hands, America is the safest place in the world. Today’s massacre shows that statement to be nothing but a lie, just as every single other school shooting revealed this lie over and over again. Instead, gun violence is the norm with 110 people dying each day due to firearms.  

We are still learning all the facts about what happened today at Robb Elementary School.  Perhaps we will find out the motive behind the shooting, where the guns came from and did the shooter present any issues that may have been missed?

One thing we can say is that more guns in our educational institutions is not the answer to our problem. Bullets cannot stop bullets. We need to put resources into our schools to create better support systems for all students that include social workers, counselors, etc. The gun lobby and its adherents are already calling for arming teachers as a way to stop this madness.  Arming our schools sends the wrong message and allows us to duck the real issues at hand.

For those of us who can still hug our kids tonight, please do so and also commit to not accepting this national nightmare as the cost of freedom. And while you are at it, reach out to your childrens’ teachers and let them know you support them too. Let them know that they too deserve to feel safe at their schools where every day they cultivate the young lives who will shape our future.

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About The Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus

The Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus works with K-12 schools, colleges and universities across the country to oppose legislative policies that would force loaded, concealed guns on campuses. Since 2008, The Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus has helped stop campus carry legislation in 18 states and is the only national organization of its kind tasked with protecting higher educational institutions and the communities they serve. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Contact:  Andy Pelosi, The Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus (914-629-6726) [email protected]

PHOTO: Billy Hathorn, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons