‘Prayer is no longer enough’

Back-to-back mass shootings in the U.S. mainland have claimed the lives of over 30 innocent civilians in a span of eight days—a shocking number that has prompted Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) to support “common sense” measures to counter unremitting gun violence.

Four people were killed, including the gunman, and 15 were injured at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Northern California shooting last July 29, 2019. This was followed by the Walmart El Paso, Texas shooting, the deadliest shooting of 2019, which killed 20 people and wounded 26 others last Aug. 4, 2019. That same day, the Dayton Ohio shooting killed 9 and injured 27.

“Tragically, data show that each day 91 people in America are killed by guns,” Sablan noted in a statement to Saipan Tribune. “Too many families in too many communities have been forced to endure the daily horror of gun violence. Too many families in our nation bear the stories of loved ones [lost] to gun violence. Enough already.”

Sablan told Saipan Tribune that he joins his colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives to insist on “commonsense steps to keep our families and our communities safe.”

“I mourn the unnecessary killings whether in Colorado, Texas, Ohio, Virginia or California. May it be a comfort to those grieving the loss of their loved ones that so many Americans mourn with and pray for them at this very difficult time. But praying is no longer enough. We must act,” Sablan said.

“We deserve a nation where people throughout the United States in their homes, their neighborhoods, their places of worship, their shopping malls, movie theaters and their classrooms are free from fear from gun violence,” Sablan added.

According to the non-profit organization Gun Violence Archive, there are a total of 33,195 gun violence incidents as of 7pm last night resulting in 8,782 deaths and 17,453 injuries. Two-hundred-and-fifty-five of the 33,195 gun violence incidents are mass shootings, according to the organization.

In a social media post, Rep. Ed Propst (Ind-Saipan) said there have been 2,189 mass shootings since the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012.

In a statement from the Torres administration, acting governor Arnold I. Palacios also mourned the victims of the shootings in El Paso and Dayton by directing yesterday that all U.S. and CNMI flags be lowered to half-staff starting yesterday to sunset of Aug.8, 2019.