A message from our CEO, Ruth Zakarin, about the tragic shootings in Providence, Brooklyn and Sydney

While our work primarily focuses on Massachusetts, today our hearts are in Providence, where a gunman shot and killed two Brown University students and wounded nine others. In Brooklyn, where a shooting left six teenagers wounded. And across the world in Australia, where 15 were killed in an act of violence targeting the Jewish community at a Chanukah celebration.

Our actions focus on the Commonwealth, but our heartbreak knows no bounds. So many people in Massachusetts have connections to the communities traumatized by these shootings or know people who were there — myself included. I am so shaken.

All people in all communities have a right to be safe from gun violence. While we can and will keep the work moving forward in Massachusetts, our commitment is to safety for all people, wherever they may reside. We also know we don’t exist in a bubble. Our safety here is predicated on us taking meaningful action on gun violence on a federal and global level. We will continue to work locally while also taking action nationally. Massachusetts is a national leader on gun violence prevention – and we are determined to keep it that way.

Today my heart is also in Newtown, Connecticut. I write this on Sunday, December 14th, on the plane home from the Center for American Progress Gun Violence Prevention Summit in DC. These shootings also occurred on the anniversary weekend of the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy - an event that stole 26 lives and catalyzed volunteers to found the Coalition and press the Massachusetts legislature to take action. Now, 13 years later, we are still here doing the work that needs to be done. We have accomplished so much, but there is still more to do to stop the trauma of gun violence in every zip code in the Commonwealth.

That is our work, and that is our commitment.

In coalition,

Ruth Zakarin