Milwaukee groups weigh in on Nashville school shooting
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The Nashville school shooting is the 130th mass shooting in the US so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
Milwaukee gun safety advocates say shootings have become commonplace, but they cannot be normalized.
They're urging people to not look away, to not become desensitized to the violence. Despite sadness and pain, groups that want to cut down on gun violence say people must use these incidents to move forward.
Jeri Bonavia, founder and executive director of the Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort (WAVE), said, "Young people these days call themselves 'the lockdown generation,' or 'the mass shooting generation.'"
Bonavia said Monday was a really difficult day as the news from Nashville came to light.
Six more people were dead, and hundreds more were exposed to gun violence. Bonavia said, "It is a club that is evergrowing, and one that none of us want to be part of."
The Gun Violence Archive determines a mass shooting is when four or more people are shot. Thousands of communities spanning every state have been impacted in recent years.
Five people were shot and injured in Milwaukee at 76th and Good Hope early Monday morning, the most recent mass shooting before Nashville.
Bonavia said, "We for so long have considered this a normal part of everyday life, when there is nothing normal about it."
She said gun violence is now the leading cause of death for children and teenagers. And while she said some adults may feel desensitized to it, those children have a right to expect more from them.
She said anyone frustrated with a lack of action can look to other high-income countries for an example of what's possible. "And they don't result in mass shootings, they don't result in the gunning down of children. That should give us hope. There are answers."
She said it will take more effort and more conversation to force lawmakers to take any kind of action that could help cut down on gun injuries and deaths. "We know that this is possible, we know that people need to be louder."