7 years ago today a mentally ill student opened fire at Virginia Tech and killed 32 students and wounded 17 others. Over 3 years ago on January 11, 2011 another mentally ill young man fired his gun here in Tucson, Arizona and killed 6 innocent people, and wounded 13 others. Some of those 13 (Pam Simon, Suzi Hileman, Mary Reed) were at a press conference today in downtown Tucson announcing the launch of a new organization “Everytown for Gun Safety” to lobby for common sense legislation on all levels of government, especially Congress.
Also attending today were Emily Nottingham, mother of the late Gabe Zimmerman (Congressional aide killed on 1/8/11), Roxanna Green, mother of the late Christina Taylor-Green (killed on 1/8/11), and Daniel Hernandez Jr. and Patricia Maisch – both heroes on that fateful day at the Safeway in NW Tucson where the shooting occurred.