---- For Immediate Release

Peter LaVenia | [email protected] |518-495-8001

Gloria Mattera | [email protected] | 917-886-4538

2/22/23 - 2023 has started off with a bang - literally - with 39 mass shootings in the first 3 weeks of the new year. “On the eve of the 5th year anniversary of the Marjory Stoneman High School mass shooting, Michigan State University campus became the next scene of carnage,” said Gloria Mattera, GPNY co-chair.

“While elected officials from the Democratic and Republican parties pat themselves on the back for passing the feeble Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the killing continues,” added Peter LaVenia, GPNY co-chair.

In the wake of the relentless string of mass shootings, the Green Party of New York is releasing this statement on gun violence to kick off an organizing campaign to engage voters and partner with other organizations in an effort to pressure legislators to act decisively.

The Green Party’s agenda for gun control laws includes a requirement that all purchasers of firearms attend a gun safety and first aid course; basic competency and mental hygiene for firearm purchasers; a moratorium on gun sales  following any mass shooting that has gained national prominence — the “copycat window”; and a ban on assault rifles.

The Green Party in New York as well as nationally, has long advocated for stricter gun control laws while highlighting the need to address a wider scope of issues such as lack of access to mental health services, income inequality and discrimination based on race, religion, gender identity or sexual orientation.

Committed to ecology, social justice, grassroots democracy and non-violence, Greens are renewing democracy in the United States through community-based organizing without the support of corporate donors.  Find out more at www.gp.org.

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