This weekend’s bone-chilling assassination attempt of former President Trump in Butler, PA shook me, my team, and our entire nation to our core. It harkens back to dark eras in our history where violence, not words or votes, were used to settle political differences.
A gunman from Pittsburgh’s South Hills armed with an AR-style rifle caused chaos and violence. He left a rally attendee – a father and former volunteer fire chief – dead after he dived down to shield his wife and daughter from the gunfire. He injured at least two other innocent bystanders, ages 57 and 74.1 And of course, he injured and could’ve very easily killed former President Trump.
I must be crystal clear: violence is never the solution. It has no place anywhere in Pennsylvania. I am glad that former President Trump is okay and I grieve for those injured, as we do for every survivor of gun violence. Our humanity must transcend our political disagreements.
I am clear-eyed that if gun violence can strike one of the most protected people in the world, surrounded by some of the most highly-trained armed guards in the world, it’s clear that more guns will not make us safer.
Every day in America, hundreds of families experience what the Trump family experienced on Saturday. Pennsylvanians understand what his supporters experienced. And none of us should have to live like that. We should be able to enjoy time with friends and family, express our political views, and go about our daily lives without danger.
“Thoughts and prayers” are not enough. We hope this is the time we can come together from all political stripes to ensure every one of us are safe from gun violence by enacting life-saving laws in Harrisburg.
We are starting to learn more about the circumstances of this incident, how the shooter obtained the weapon, and what policies could be put in place at the state-level to prevent this and other deadly acts of violence from ever happening again. We’re already in those conversations as we grapple with the fallout from an attempted Presidential assassination in our own Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The time is now to take a step back from the precipice, for all of us to clearly and unequivocally commit as a nation to renounce political violence, and to put ourselves on a path toward protecting not only our families and our communities – but our very democracy – from the poison that is gun violence.
There is a better, safer future out there, if only we can muster the will to build toward it, together.
Sincerely,
Adam Garber
Executive Director
CeaseFirePA
1. https://apnews.com/article/trump-rally-victim-fire-chief-11e1aa65e6e45584f49577686d38766e
