Williams stressed the responsibility of elected officials to curb both the supply and the demands for guns, and to counteract the efforts of the Trump administration and the NRA that enable the "demonic obsession with guns."
One day after one of the deadliest mass shootings in US history, politicians all across the country - and in Brooklyn - offered their "thoughts and prayers." Wednesday's shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla, was the eighteenth mass shooting this year, killing 17 adults and children, reported CNN. Councilmember Jumaane Williams expressed his condolences as well as thoughts on the nation's current gun laws and the responsibility of elected officials all across the country in a statement.
"We cannot lose our capacity to be appalled by this violence. We cannot grow numb to the tragedy that is wreaked by gun violence every day in our nation because the families of those lost to that violence never will," said Williams. "We have an obligation to them to do all that we can to prevent other families from experiencing that same heart-wrenching grief."
Yesterday, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz went on a shooting rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, taking the lives of 17 adults and children. The suspect, a former student of the school who was previously expelled for disciplinary reasons, was due to appear in court today.
This most recent shooting, which is among the 10 deadliest mass shootings in the country's history, reopens the debate over stricter gun laws and the responsibility of US lawmakers. Cruz used an AR-15 assault rifle a family attorney says he legally purchased.
Photo credit:media.wnyc.org
Williams, who has long advocated for concerted efforts to end gun violence in New York City and who co-chaired the Council's Task Force to Combat Gun Violence, called for "common sense measures" to curb both the supply and the demands for guns in New York and all across the country through comprehensive legislation.
"We have a moral imperative to do all that we can to prevent families from Brooklyn to Buffalo, Albany to Newburgh, from facing the same tragedy that families in Parkland, Florida feel today," said Williams.
He stressed the importance to counteract the efforts of the Trump administration, Republicans and the NRA that enable the "demonic obsession with guns" in the US.
"This refusal to take action renders their prayers empty," said Williams. "Their irresponsible and malicious intent can neither be ignored nor tolerated."
Wednesday's shooting is at least the fourth at US middle and high schools this year. It comes more than five years after the deadliest shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, where 20 children and six adults lost their lives.
Florida Governor. Rick Scott ordered government flags flown at half-staff through Monday to honor the victims of the shooting; the high school will remain closed for the rest of the week. The district will offer grief counseling to students and their families.
