There are No More Safe Spaces
Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting, Kroger Shooting Show Gun Violence in Houses of Worship and Stores Becoming Commonplace
UNAC/UHCP President Denise Duncan, RN, released the following statement describing why there are no safe spaces:
“Once again, a gunman has taken the lives of those worshiping, this time at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. Eleven souls perished in the shooting last weekend. Only a few days earlier, a pair of shoppers were murdered at Kroger grocery store in Jeffersontown, Kentucky, after a gunman first tried to gain entry to a black church in the area.
“These weren’t the first attacks on places of worship. In 2017, a gunman killed 26 congregants during Sunday service in Sutherland Springs, Texas. In 2015, nine died at the hands of a white supremacist gunman in a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina. In 2012, six worshipers were slain by a gunman in a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.
“A gunman walked into a hospital I know well—Kaiser Downey, in Southern California—just last month. Gunmen routinely target schools. Even an outdoor concert or a visit to a museum can prove deadly. There are no more safe spaces.
“Many people will tell you to vote as though your life depends on it next week—and you should. Voting is necessary but not sufficient. Edmund Burke once said ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.’ When houses of worship need metal detectors and security guards to protect their congregants, we all need to do so much more than simply voting.
“Vote on November 6. And when the new elected officials are sworn in, let’s stand together to demand change. Enough is enough.”