essex county board of commissioners issues statement on colorado mass shooting and recent spike in mass shootings nationally

Pictured are (from left to right, front row) District 2 Commissioner President Wayne Richardson, Commissioner At-Large Romaine Graham, District 3 Commissioner Tyshammie L. Cooper, Commissioner At-Large Patricia Sebold, and Commissioner At-Large Brendan Gill. (From left to right, back row) District 5 Commissioner Vice President Carlos Pomares, District 4 Commissioner Leonard M. Luciano, Commissioner At-Large Rufus I. Johnson, and District 1 Commissioner Robert Mercado. PHOTO BY GLEN FRIESON”

(Newark, NJ) – On behalf of the Essex County Board of County Commissioners, President Wayne L. Richardson offers sincere condolences to the families of the 10 people murdered during a mass shooting at the King Soopers supermarket in Boulder, Colorado. This tragedy comes on the heels of the murder of eight people in last week’s Atlanta area spa shootings, and is the seventh mass shooting that has occurred in our country in the last week.

We must never allow ourselves to accept these types of attacks as a normal consequence of modern society. It is this Board’s hope that we can engage in positive and constructive dialogue – at all levels of society and government – to discuss the actions we can employ to begin the process of resolving the issues that cause these horrific mass shootings.

We cannot look to assign one specific factor as the reason for every mass shooting. We must attack this epidemic on all fronts and understand that on any given day, someone may decide to take our loved ones from us through an unprovoked act of gun violence.

We must aggressively denounce the sentiment that people of different religions, ethnicities, or backgrounds do not deserve the right to life and liberty that all of us hold dear. We must provide accessible care to those struggling with mental illness. We must aggressively target hate speech in all of its forms, and expose its harmful effects. We must stop bullying in our schools and through social media, and educate our youth on various forms of conflict resolution that emphasize the destructive nature of violence and its consequences.

As legislators in government, we can no longer allow our differences in the interpretation of the 2nd amendment prevent us from implementing smart measures to mitigate the ability of a few individuals to murder our neighbors in a matter of minutes.

Commissioner Patricia Sebold stated, “It is clear there needs to be sensible gun control legislation, with respect to gun ownership, implemented in this country. My heart goes out to the families of those in Colorado, and all over the nation, who have lost their lives due to the senseless violence of the past week.”

“These senseless tragedies are heartbreaking and unacceptable.”  Commissioner Tyshammie L. Cooper stated. “As a wife and mother of two, my heart grieves for the families and friends of the victims of these tragedies. As a legislator, I challenge my colleagues at all levels of government to come together and do our part to protect our neighbors from these horrible attacks.”

Commissioner Brendan W. Gill stated, “The incidents of the past week have reminded us that the threat of gun violence affects all Americans on a daily basis. We are all one moment away from our lives being tragically altered, or taken from us without reason or provocation. We must continue fighting for the implementation of common sense gun reform. I send my sincere condolences to those suffering across the country.”

To all who are suffering today, the Board once again offers our heartfelt condolences.