For Immediate Release:
October 26, 2023
For More Information:
Josh Fleitman, Campaign Director, (412) 426-5148, josh.fleitman@ceasefirepa.org
Adam Garber, Executive Director, (267) 515-1220, adam.garber@ceasefirepa.org
MEDIA STATEMENT
Lewiston Mass Shooting Days Before Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting 5-Year Remembrance Reminds Americans Nowhere is Safe
Pittsburgh — Yesterday, a gunman murdered 22 people with a high-powered rifle, injuring dozens of additional people in Lewiston, Maine. The devastation at a bowling alley and bar was the 565th mass shooting in the country this year, injuring nearly 3,000 people with over 500 fatally shot.
Adam Garber, CeaseFirePA Education Fund’s Executive Director, issued the following statement in response:
“Our hearts are with Lewiston residents. They join a long list of towns mourning after a deadly attack took the lives of many of their neighbors and loved ones during a mass shooting.
“While we are still learning more about the person of interest who is still at large, we know popular, bipartisan solutions exist. We know a loophole allows people to buy a rifle in Pennsylvania without a background check from another individual, such as the one used in Lewiston and Pittsburgh. We know that Extreme Risk Protection Orders can give law enforcement tools to intervene before dozens are dead.”
“Pittsburgh and Lewiston will not be the last towns facing a massacre like this if elected officials continue to fail at their first job: keeping their constituents safe. And no matter what extremists or the gun industry try to say, this isn’t an urban or rural issue. It’s not a Democrat or Republican issue. It’s an American issue. It’s an American crisis. And it’s too many bodies past time for our American elected officials to end it.”
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As the Commonwealth’s leading gun violence prevention organization, CeaseFirePA Education Fund works to ensure everyone can live a life free from gun violence. We organize with communities closest to the issue, hold those in power accountable, and maximize the strengths of every member in our broad coalition.
