>> hi everybody. i am executive director of giffords. led by gabby gifford joining us today. we would like to welcome you to the giffords' san francisco gun violence memorial which serves as a stark reminder of gun violence that continues and increases to plague our great

state of california, bay area and, of course, the country as a whole. in 2020 this state saw 3500 gun deaths representing a shocking 41% increase in murders. there is no single cause. gun sales are up. police community trust is down. the pandemic has led to an unprecedented social dislocation. but we do know some of the answers to addressing the gun violence epidemic. two of them are simple. courage and determination. the courage of survivors like here and those from the 101 california shooting. over 25 years ago they turned grief into action, determination

of survivors to keep at it year after year passing gun law after gun law which has allowed us in california to reduce the rate of gun violence over that amount of time in half. that is not enough. california is not an island. california must do more. for example, passing the firearms industry responsibility act. we need to keep the drumbeat going in sacramento. we need to continue to invest in life saving violence prevention work. we need to shine a bright light on the inaction of washington, d.c. where despite 90% of americans who support universal background checks across the country despite the majority of americans that support deep

investment in violence intervention and policies and investments despite the need for president biden to take further action, we have seen not enough. we are surrounded here today by a elected leaders, advocates, survivors, folks on the front lines to make it day-to-day work to create change we need for a safer city, state and country. i am deeply honored to introduce san francisco mayor london breed. thank you so much for your leadership and in particular for your support for the $1.5 million investment in violence prevention services. >> mayor breed: let me say it is an honor to be here with our distinguished guests, including gabby gifford and the work she has been doing to address gun

violence in this country has been extraordinary. this is how we connected because, sadly, this is why i got into politic in the first place. it has everything to do with growing up in a community where gun violence was normal. in junior high school it was easy for anyone to get access to buy or find a gun somewhere in your home and this is in the western addition where myself and michael joining us today where we. >> up. too many funerals to count. i wasn't even 18 years old. when i think about these lives here represented in this way, 3449 people during the year of 2020 in the state of california. dying in this state, in this

very wealthy state due to gun violence. half of these people because of suicide and african-american men in particular representing 4% of the population in this state. 28% of those who died from gun violence. kids ages 1-17. second leading cause of death in the state of california. in 2020 what we saw in san francisco is that gun violence was a leading cause of death in our communities. we are seeing this happen time and time again. whether it is our synagogues or sandy hook shootings where our kids were murdered. in so many situations what is most frustrating to me is where is the compassion. where is the leadership?

where is the courage? because i am certain, sadly, everyone here in some form or another is probably impacted by gun violence in some way. you directly or a family member. people in domestic violence situations one of the leading causes of death is by a gun. how do we get rid of this? how do we stop this and make sure it is not one more? we can't give up this fight. the hurt is not just the people who are the victims directly. it is the families. it is the communities, the loss of life. heart and pain that carries on with you especially with the mothers. we are here with one of those mothers, those courageous

mothers who has taken her pain and used it to advocate for other mothers, too much loss, hurt, too much pain. that is why we are here today. it is important to shine a light another this and never to give up. gabby would say never ever give up. on the need for change. on the need for justice. on the need to make sure the kids are not continuing to grow up in these environments where this is normal because it is not normal. it is hurtful, painful and it is devastating to our city, our state, our country. we are better than this. we can do better than this. i am confident that the work that gifford does with a number of the people who are actively engaged in this fight we are going to get there. we are not going to give up and

we are going to continue to fight to end gun violence in this country. thank you all so much for being here to support these efforts. [applause] >> thank you, mayor breed. as you heard from the mayor, there is no greater loss than the loss of the parent. our next speaker has grievously lost and she has also courageously fought for safer gun lies. i am very sonnored and proud to introduce survivor lynnettemcelhaney. >> good morning. it is an awesome privilege to stand with this leader, our congressional leader and each of you who lifted up the cause of

ending gun violence in this country today. i havingeled to figure out what -- struggled out what to say in a political or policy context to understand the importance of now. we are surrounded by 5 -- 3500 flowers representing the lives of californiaians lost to gun violence in 2020. think about that over 10 years and go back to 2010. you will find a flower from my son, victor mcel haney. i was thinking about victor. i think about victor all of the time. he is the only son born to me. my only child, my only baby. i think about the promise that we all lost in victor. victor was born two months early but right on time.

he chose to come on april 13th, he chose because he was