FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
INDIANAPOLIS URBAN LEAGUE AND THE NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE: STRONGER COMMON SENSE GUN SAFETY LAWS NEEDED TO ADDRESS DEADLY EPIDEMIC
Indianapolis Urban League President Tony Mason and National Urban League President Marc H. Morial issued the following statement in response to the nation’s plague of mass shootings which surged with five attacks in eight days, in which 100 people were shot and at least 35 died.
INDIANAPOLIS AND NEW YORK (August 7, 2019) — The Indianapolis and National Urban League recognize that the El Paso shootings were premeditated, intentional acts of hate directed towards the Latino community. We offer our deepest and sincere sympathies to those targeted yet we also realize that faith and prayer without works are dead actions. “Our hearts are with the victims and their families but our thoughts and prayers are meaningless unless they are put to action with stronger, effective, common sense gun safety laws.”
Marc H. Morial, President of the National Urban League said: “Our paralysis in response to this scourge of mass shootings is our national shame. The slavish devotion of elected officials to the gun manufacturing lobby is killing us, literally and spiritually.”
At least one of the shooters was inspired by violent and racist rhetoric, rhetoric streaming from even the highest office in the land, yet we see little bi-partisan willingness on the part of our lawmakers either to condemn the rhetoric or to stem the tide of violence.
The Indianapolis and National Urban League demand comprehensive gun safety legislation at the federal level. The Senate can start with passing the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019 and by closing the “Charleston loophole” that allowed Mother Emmanuel shooter Dylann Roof to purchase a firearm even though his background check had not yet been approved.
We support a renewal of the assault weapons ban and significant investment in mental health initiatives that can red-flag dangerous individuals.
The Indianapolis Urban League encourages Senators Todd Young and Mike Braun to return to Washington, D.C. immediately from their August-long district recess to address this national crisis of death, hatred, and community devastation spreading across our great nation. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. noted, “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.”
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Media Contact: Anthony R. Mason, President & CEO, Indianapolis Urban League
Phone: (317) 693-7603
Email: info@indplsul.org