Statement Of Amherst Human Rights Commission In Reponse To Recent Mass Shootings

The following Statement by the Amherst Human Rights Commission was issued on May 27, 2022

 Once again, we find ourselves reeling from not one but two mass shootings. While the catalyst for each event may differ, the use of assault rifles remains a commonality. It is important for us to humanize the victims of these horrendously violent acts and to keep them in our hearts and minds. A decade after the Sandy Hook tragedy in Newtown, Ct. and nearly two and a half decades after the terror of Columbine High School, not enough has changed. Lip service and promises of substantive action have not made our children safer, prayers have not made our children safer. For too long, politicians have refused to act on policy that would increase our children’s safety.  It is time for change, at the federal level in the form of universal gun regulation

At this point in history, what we are most in danger of losing is our collective sense of humanity. The rhetoric of the last presidential administration has only served to deepen the divide between those among us who believe that life is truly precious and those who only find value in lives familiar to their own. The time has come to demand action, not hyperbole, from our elected officials and to denounce views that promote the importance of gun ownership over the lives of our fellow community members, both young and old.

We, the Amherst Human Rights Commission, do hereby condemn the actions of the perpetrator of fatal violence in Buffalo, Ny, who took lives based on racial hatred fostered by the echo chambers of right-wing extremism, and we hereby condemn the violence perpetrated against the innocent children and their teachers in Uvalde, Texas. We call for demonstratable action from the legislators who are charged with serving the greater good of this country. There is no greater cause than protecting our children and neighbors. There is no right worthy of protecting more than the right to live in a society without fear of being a victim of a mass shooting. We call for true and immediate change.

The Amherst Human Right Commission