The California chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, both part of Everytown for Gun Safety, released the following statements after a shooting at a fire station in Los Angeles by an off-duty firefighter, in which two people were shot, one fatally.
“Our hearts ache for all those impacted by this horrific shooting and the entire Acton and Agua Dulce community,” said Nicole Jones, a volunteer with the California chapter of Moms Demand Action. “We cannot accept what’s happening in our country as normal– it can’t be normal to have two workplace shootings in our state in a matter of days. We have a gun violence crisis, and we need leaders at every level to take action to protect us from this epidemic and save lives.”
“We are living in a world where people no longer feel safe in their place of work,” said Eden Bjornson, a volunteer with California Students Demand Action. “Our entire state is in mourning for the victims of this shooting, as well as those impacted by last week’s shooting in San Jose. It doesn’t have to be this way, we need more than thoughts and prayers — we need action.”
This shooting comes less than a week after a mass shooting in downtown San Jose near a Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) maintenance yard. Law enforcement officials confirmed that there were multiple injuries and 9 fatalities, excluding the shooter; at least some of the victims were VTA employees. This marks the 255th mass shooting tracked by Everytown for Gun Safety since 2009.
California has some of the strongest gun safety laws in the country but without federal action on background checks, guns will continue to flow into California from states with weaker gun laws. Read Everytown’s new report on gun trafficking here.
