Gabby Giffords & Captain Mark Kelly Statement in Response to the Tragic Shooting in San Bernardino, California

December 2, 2015

December 2, 2015 – Former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and Navy combat veteran and retired NASA astronaut Capt. Mark Kelly, the Co-Founders of Americans for Responsible Solutions, issued the below statement following today’s tragic shooting in San Bernardino, California:

“It seems like every week we sit down together to find the words to adequately express our heartbreak for another community that has been shattered by gun violence. “We always fail to find the words to match our anger, heartache, and disgust. “Today is no different. “Today is another sad day. Today, once again, America mourns those taken from us by gun violence. “Once again, a senseless act of gun violence has brought terror, tragedy and pain to one of our communities. This time, murderers with guns attacked the Inland Regional Center, a place of refuge and comfort for the some of the most vulnerable among us. “We wish we could use words like ‘unimaginable’ and ‘unthinkable’ to describe the horror that unfolded today in San Bernardino. But it is not. Not in our country. “While this situation is still unfolding and as we wait to learn exactly what happened and why, we are holding the San Bernardino community in our thoughts. We grieve for those lost, pray for strength for the injured, and hope for comfort for those whose loved ones were taken from them today. “We are grateful to the first responders who are serving bravely and working to end these murderers’ rampage and ensure they see justice. “We want to repeat something we said just last week after the tragedy in Colorado Springs: As a country and a people, we must reckon with the fact that these types of gun tragedies simply don’t happen as often in other countries. Other countries have evil people. Other countries have violent people. But our country stands nearly alone in the rate of people murdered with guns. “America is an extraordinary place. But these tragedies make us stand out in the worst of ways. “This is not the America we strive for. We have to do better. And we can.”

BACKGROUND ON MASS SHOOTINGS IN THE UNITED STATES

A “Mass Shooting” Is Any Incident Where At Least Four People Were Murdered With A Gun. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines a mass shooting as any incident where at least four people were murdered with a gun, not including the shooter. While some of these mass shootings happen in public places, many do not. [Federal Bureau of Investigation] Mass killings occur every two weeks in the United States, and approximately 75 percent of them are committed with firearms. [USA Today]

One-Third of the World’s Mass Shootings Happen In America. While the United States has less than five percent of the world’s population, nearly one-third of all global mass shootings occur in the United States, and are occurring with greater frequency. [Wall Street Journal] [Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2013]

But Mass Shootings Account for A Fraction of Total Gun Murders in America. Between 1982 and May 2013, 547 people were killed in public mass shootings in the United States. [Congressional Research Service, 2013] Each year, 12,000 Americans are murdered with a gun. [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]

Over Half of Mass Shootings in the U.S. Involve Domestic Violence Situations – and Two-Thirds of the Victims Are Women And Children. Public massacres like the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School account for one in six mass killings. [USA Today] Between January 2009 and July 2015, over half of the mass shootings in the United States involved a current or former intimate partner and 64 percent of these shooting victims were women and children. [Huffington Post]