PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — As the nation comes to terms with the latest mass shooting, one in which 19 school children and two teachers were killed in Uvalde, Texas, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and Attorney General Josh Shapiro joined Philadelphia faith leaders, community activists, students, and lawmakers at Temple Rodeph Shalom in Poplar for an emotion-filled rally for policy changes to curb gun violence.
Many inside the temple Friday showed pictures of children they lost due to gun violence, and they joined in a vehement chant of “Enough is enough!”
Government leaders’ speeches Friday echoed their demand.
"Too many communities here and across the nation have known the terror of a mass shooting, and too many communities deal with gun violence every day that may not make nationwide headlines but still leave fear, grief, and heartbreak in their wake,” said Wolf to an audience from different faiths.
“Gun violence has become entrenched in our nation, and the fact that our legislators at the state and national levels seem to be just fine with that is the greatest tragedy of all."
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Wolf noted that gun violence is now the top cause of death for children in Pennsylvania. So far in 2022, 156 children and teens have been shot in Philadelphia alone. 31 of those children and teens died.
Shapiro said that in the last year, 134 children were killed statewide by guns, with 113 of them being homicide victims.
Many recent shootings in Philadelphia have happened on or near school grounds during daytime hours, including the shooting of three teens this week outside an elementary school in Nicetown just after dismissal bells rang.
"I am heartbroken. I am angry,” said Wolf. “But I refuse to give up on calling on our lawmakers to enact common sense legislation that protects Pennsylvanians."
"Guns kill more Pennsylvania children than anything else because too many legislators have decided that has to be their fate,” CeaseFirePA Executive Director Adam Garber said in mirroring the governor’s call.
“It's not a law of nature, it is the law of man, and that means we can change it but only if we refuse to accept any less from every elected official in Pennsylvania … we will not stop until everyone can live free from gun violence."
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State Sen. Amanda Cappelletti, D-Norristown, said that before the last session, there was a moment of silence for the victims of Uvalde. She believed they deserved that moment, but she decided to walk out, and it was not out of disrespect,
“I walked off the floor because I’m not going to participate in a charade anymore and stand in a moment of silence without action!” Cappelletti exclaimed.
“I’m tired of 'thoughts and prayers,' because thoughts and prayers without action are meaningless!"
Shapiro spoke of the inaction of elected officials and called for the passage of several pieces of legislation.
"We need to close the ghost gun loophole in Pennsylvania. It is the weapon of choice for criminals,” Shapiro said.
“We need universal background checks, because surely we can all agree that those who are criminals should not be able to get their hands on guns. Surely we can agree on that.”
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Several organizations made their case for gun control legislation, but the most moving call for change came from children that were in attendance who spoke about not feeling safe.
“Teachers and students should come to school every day and not worry about their safety,” said one sixth grader. “We are scared, frustrated, and exhausted. We want to live our lives, learn and be kids."
Advocates are looking for the passage of bills that ban assault weapons, create extreme risk protection orders to temporarily keep firearms out of the hands of people at risk of creating violence, require safe storage of firearms at home, and empower local governments through various means to protect their communities.
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