Gun Control Activist: Changing The 'Thinking' Around School Shootings Could Reduce Gun Violence

Forbes Breaking News

On "Forbes Newsroom", gun control activist Angela Ferrell-Zabala spoke about the need to shift the public's view school shootings in order to solve gun violence.

Transcript

00:00I'm Brittany Lewis, a breaking news reporter here at Forbes. Joining me now is Angela Pharrell-Zabala,

00:06Executive Director of Moms Demand Action. Angela, thank you so much for joining me today.

00:11Thank you for having me here.

00:14It is a heavy day today. As school starts up again around the country, the nation has witnessed

00:19another senseless tragedy, this time in Minneapolis. And I want to talk about what we know so far,

00:25because this could change, the shooting happened just a few hours ago from now. A shooter armed

00:30with a rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol opened fire on a mass at Annunciation Catholic School in

00:36Minneapolis. The police said as of now, two children have died, an 8- and 10-year-old,

00:42and 17 people, including 14 children, were injured. Multiple injured people right now are in critical

00:48condition. So to start off the conversation, what's your reaction to what we're seeing play out in

00:52Minneapolis? I mean, it's horrible. I think this is every parent's worst nightmare, dropping your

01:00kids off to school and not seeing them come home safely. I mean, we're just into the school year,

01:05just finished summer break, and we should be thinking about school supplies, back to school

01:09night, field trips, and not planning a funeral for our babies. As a mother of four children and two

01:15little ones that are just around this age, and a woman of faith, this is deeply alarming for me.

01:22Gun violence is the leading cause of death for kids in this country. And today really shows what

01:29it looks like when we are not taking all the measures we need to make sure that we're keeping

01:33our children, our babies safe and sound so they can be safe in schools and in places of worship.

01:39And I think, I mean, like you said, this is every parent's worst nightmare. This is certainly

01:46everyone's worst nightmare. As someone who is Catholic, I can't imagine going into a church and

01:53not thinking that I would come out safe. People go to these places of worship, they feel safe or they

01:58expect to feel safe there. And that's not what happened today in Minneapolis. Mayor Fry, he's the

02:03Minneapolis mayor. He said this, quote, do not think of these as just somebody else's kids, but think of

02:09them as if they were your own. Do you think that by changing the thinking here, thinking that these

02:16are our own kids, that could make a difference as people view school shootings in general?

02:23I think we absolutely have no choice but to think of these as being our children. These are our own

02:29babies, our communities. And we have the responsibility as adults, as lawmakers, as people

02:34of faith to do everything in our power to keep them safe. And that means enacting gun laws and things

02:41that we know are common sense and that can prevent these kinds of tragedies. I think, you know,

02:45oftentimes when we see this kind of violence play out, it grabs the national attention. Everybody is

02:51disturbed to see that we have parents that have to bury their children. You can almost envision and think

02:58about your own children, your own young people in your life. And yet we treat it sometimes as if this

03:05is some kind of natural disaster or this is like, how did this happen? Easy access to guns and not

03:11really digging into our ability to have common sense gun laws in this country is really, really

03:18important. So I today, first and foremost, am sending my heart and prayers to the families that are

03:27directly impacting the community all around, not only the school, but the church, because this is very

03:32devastating.

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