By Jane Weiss / For The Herald
The truth is outrageous. Don’t look away. Nineteen 8-, 9-, and 10-year-old students and two teachers in their classroom in Uvalde, Texas. Ten older African American adults, including a security officer at a grocery store in Buffalo, N.Y. Countless more every single day in domestic violence, suicide, road rage and community gun violence.
Haven’t we been here before? Can’t we agree that our schools, grocery stores, homes and communities should be free from the threat of gun violence? Enough is enough.
Like far too many people, I have an idea of what the loved ones of the victims of Uvalde and Buffalo are going through. On May 23, 2014, my 19-year-old niece Veronika was slaughtered near her college campus in Isla Vista, Calif., by a young man who never should have had access to firearms. He was armed with three guns and more than 400 rounds of ammunition. He fired 15 shots in just a matter of seconds. By the time his rampage ended, the gunman had killed seven people, injured 14 others and terrorized an entire community.
Exactly eight years and one day later, another young man armed with a semi-automatic weapon and high capacity magazines, carried out a heinous murder in Uvalde. We have been here before.
Every emotion comes flooding back all over again. The ripple effects of these unthinkable acts extend all across the country, through family, friends, acquaintances; all of us. Again.
In the aftermath of especially horrific mass shootings, many people — including many elected leaders — will claim that nothing can be done, that strengthening gun laws is politically unfeasible so we might as well save our breath. Others will blame mental illness, despite the fact that people with mental illness are far more likely to be the victims of gun violence than the perpetrators.
But we are not doomed to repeat this same cycle of thoughts, prayers and inaction. I know this because I have been working since 2014 for commonsense laws in Washington state that will keep our communities safe and prevent other families from ever having to experience what my family has. And we have made so much progress since then.
As a result of the Isla Vista shooting, the State Assembly in California passed an Extreme Risk Protection Order law, also known as red-flag law. Two years later in 2016, after state lawmakers failed to act, Washington voters passed a similar law, Initiative 1491, to establish extreme risk protection orders.
In Washington state we have the proof that progress is possible. Working with groups like the Alliance For Gun Responsibility, Grandmothers Against Gun Violence, Washington Ceasefire, and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, we have shown that there are ways to prevent tragedy. Since 2014, Washington has raised the age of purchase for semi-automatic weapons to 21, encouraged safe storage of firearms, banned ghost guns, restricted high-capacity magazines, secured funding for community violence prevention programs, established universal background checks and Extreme Risk Protection Orders, and more.
There is, of course, more that can be done and we must do it. Over the weekend, there were at least 10 shootings in Seattle alone. In Everett, in just the last week, gunfire has erupted at a Denny’s, an apartment building and a park. We can’t afford inaction.
The hard truth is our state laws are only as strong as our weakest neighboring states. That is why we need to continue to lobby at the national level for concrete action right now. More than 110 people are killed and hundreds more are wounded by gun violence every day we wait. In the absence of federal action, we will keep leading the way in Washington state.
This weekend, June 3-5 is Wear Orange weekend, a national time to raise awareness about the gun violence epidemic. Join us as we wear orange; a bold color that hunters wear to tell people not to shoot. Join us to demand a future free from gun violence and to honor the victims and survivors of gun violence. For families, for those in personal crisis, for the communities hardest hit by gun violence, we will continue fighting. Join us.
We deserve better. Don’t look away. Enough is enough.
Jane Weiss is a retired elementary school teacher from Snohomish County.
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