Gun violence groups call for action after mass shooting in downtown Sacramento

Advocacy groups voiced outrage yet again as six people were killed in a mass shooting early Sunday in downtown Sacramento — the second mass shooting in little more than 30 days.

“We are sick and tired of waking up to news of the latest senseless act of gun violence. We won’t stop fighting for a country where our families can feel safe from gun violence,” California’s Moms Demand Action, the volunteer network that works to end gun violence, said in a statement Sunday as Sacramento residents arose to the news of the deadly early morning shooting.

The Gun Violence Archive which has recorded America’s deadly tally since 2013, posted the latest dateline: “April 3, 2022; State: California; City or County: Sacramento; Address: J Street and 10th Street. “

California Attorney General Rob Bonta referenced the archive, saying: “Enough is enough. The sickening gun violence plaguing our communities must end. There have been about as many mass shootings in America as days so far in 2022. My office continues our work to get illegal guns off our streets, hold those responsible for gun violence accountable, and push for — and defend in court — commonsense gun laws. This work is urgent. We must act now.”

The downtown violence came about one month after another mass Sacramento mass shooting. A father on Feb. 28 killed his three daughters and a church supervisor before turning the gun on himself during a supervised custody visit at The Church in Sacramento, a church in the Arden Arcade neighborhood.

As investigators continued the grim work of finding what sparked the violence and notifying the families of the dead, reaction from local and state officials, groups who study gun violence and California’s governor was swift as they weighed in on the latest American tragedy.

“This is a senseless and unacceptable tragedy,” said Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg at an 11 a.m. news conference in downtown Sacramento. “This senseless epidemic of gun violence must be addressed. Let’s be honest. This is a sickness. It is a sickness in our culture and we must do everything we can to address this sickness.”

Millions affected by gun violence

Garen Wintemute, emergency room physician and director of the UC Davis Health Violence Prevention Research Program who is an expert on the public health crisis of gun violence, was not available for comment Sunday. But his research published January in the journal Injury Epidemiology showing how broadly violence is felt by Californians was striking.

The survey indicated that as many as 5 million Californians personally know multiple people who have been intentionally shot.

Wintemute’s research also showed that a large majority of Californians surveyed reported having an “experience of violence,” from hearing gunshots to encountering a sidewalk memorial to a violent death to learning about a violent death through their social network.

“Our main conclusion is that almost everybody is touched by this, and we’re a state with relatively low rates of firearm violence,” Wintemute said.

Wintemute, writing for the journal in 2021, offered this grim assessment, citing decades of research connecting increased firearm ownership and access to weapons with the rise in violence and self-harm.

“The USA is still experiencing an unprecedented surge in firearm purchasing and has no choice but to live through its effects,” he wrote. “Our challenge is to do everything we can to limit the harm that will almost surely follow.”

Moms Demand Action continues to work with local, state and federal leaders to develop a “comprehensive approach to ending gun violence,” Henry said.

Lobbying on guns in California Capitol

In Sacramento, Moms Demand Action has been working closely in recent years with advocates including Advance Peace and Movement for Life, she said. Henry said 90 survivors of gun violence recently participated in lawmaker meetings; while her organization is pushing and supporting legislation to ban so-called “ghost guns,” and boost compensation for victims of gun violence.

“We’re gratified that in California, we have many legislators dedicated to ending gun violence,” Henry said.

She called news of the latest senseless shooting “crushing.”

“It’s troubling news to wake up to this morning, to continue to hear about things like this and to think about the families,” Lisa Henry, volunteer leader of the California chapter of Moms Demand Action, said Sunday. “The details of last night are still unfolding — so many things are happening. It can feel crushing.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, on vacation in Central and South America, condemned the “horrendous act of gun violence” in the capital city.

“What we do know at this point is that another mass casualty shooting has occurred, leaving families with lost loved ones, multiple individuals injured and a community in grief,” Newsom said in the statement. “The scourge of gun violence continues to be a crisis in our country, and we must resolve to bring an end to this carnage.”

This story was originally published April 3, 2022 at 2:36 PM.

Darrell Smith

The Sacramento Bee

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Darrell Smith is a local reporter for The Sacramento Bee. He joined The Bee in 2006 and previously worked at newspapers in Palm Springs, Colorado Springs and Marysville. Smith was born and raised at Beale Air Force Base and lives in Elk Grove.