Giffords to Install Gun Violence Memorial in Houston
Washington, DC — Next week, Giffords will bring its Gun Violence Memorial to Houston in commemoration of the thousands of lives lost to gun violence every year. On Thursday, March 10, Giffords will host a press conference in which Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, Giffords Executive Director Peter Ambler, Giffords Senior Advisor Ryan Busse, READI Chicago Executive Director Chico Tillmon, gun violence Josefina Cannon, and Deputy CEO of the Houston Area Women’s Center Sonia Corrales are all scheduled to speak.
The memorial will be located in Discovery Green Park and will feature 4,000 vases—one for every Texan who died from gun violence in 2020. The memorial follows a national installation Giffords unveiled earlier this year in Washington, DC. The National Mall was covered in 40,000 flowers representing Americans who die from gun violence each year. Giffords kicked off the Gun Violence Memorial regional tour with a stop in Philadelphia in August and continued the tour in New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami.
Last year, Texas had the 26th highest rate of gun deaths across all 50 states. Black, Brown, and Latino people continue to bear the burden of this crisis. Instead of passing new gun safety laws or strengthening the ones on the books, Texas lawmakers passed a permitless carry bill, despite the fact that guns in public increase the risk of violence.
Additionally, this week Giffords released a report highlighting on gun violence within the US territories of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands (USVI) demonstrating that both territories experience staggering levels of firearm-related violence, with Puerto Rico and USVI’s firearm homicide rates at four and eight times the national average, respectively. The report, which is available in both English and Spanish, finds that gun violence in the territories is fueled primarily by firearms trafficked in from states with weak gun laws—particularly Georgia, Florida, and Texas.
Nationally, new provisional data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that more than 45,000 people died because of gun violence in 2020 —a 15% increase from 2019. That’s an average of more than 120 gun deaths each day. The data underscores the toll gun violence has taken on our communities in Texas and across our country. At the press conference, speakers will call on Congress and local lawmakers to finally take action so no more lives are needlessly lost to a preventable crisis.
WHO:
Representative Sheila Jackson Lee
Giffords Senior Advisor Ryan Busse
READI Chicago Executive Director Chico Tillmon
Josefina Cannon, gun violence survivor
Sonia Corrales, Deputy CEO, Houston Area Women’s Center
Giffords Executive Director Peter Ambler
WHEN:
Thursday, March 10 at 10am CT
WHERE:
Discovery Green Park
1500 McKinney St,
Houston, TX 77010