AFT’s Weingarten and Teachers Unify’s Abbey Clements Respond to Georgia School Shooting

Press Release

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WASHINGTON-AFT President Randi Weingarten and Abbey Clements, executive director of Teachers Unify to End Gun Violence and a survivor of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, issued the following statement after the mass shooting today at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga.:

"What happened today is a parent's, teacher's, student's and community's worst nightmare. An environment that is supposed to be safe and welcoming turned into a killing field.

"It will never be the same for the people who were in Apalachee High School today, their families and their friends.

"Our hearts are broken. We mourn for those killed, injured or traumatized in yet another devastating school shooting, for their families, and for the extended community of Winder, Ga., which will need support and resources to recover.

"Those who continue to oppose commonsense gun safety laws have failed our children and our country.

"Let's do what we have to do so this won't happen to another school, family or community.

"We must remove weapons of war from our streets and communities, fund community violence intervention programs, enforce background checks and safe-storage laws, ban high-capacity magazines and pass more extreme risk protection laws.

"The onus of this public health crisis should not be on the shoulders of just teachers, students and parents. It will take all of us."

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The AFT represents 1.8 million pre-K through 12th-grade teachers; paraprofessionals and other school-related personnel; higher education faculty and professional staff; federal, state and local government employees; nurses and healthcare workers; and early childhood educators.