Charlestown Democrats - Don’t be fooled

There is only ONE Democrat running in the September 9 primary

By Will Collette

Boisclair sign in front of Jim Mageau's house.
Photo by Will Collette

The September 9 Democratic primary is important not just for the three statewide contests to pick candidates for attorney general and lieutenant governor plus the epic match-up pitting Helena Foulkes against hapless incumbent Governor Dan McKee.

Here in Charlestown, September 9 will decide who will represent Charlestown in the Rhode Island House of Representatives. 

It will feature incumbent Rep. Tina Spears, running for a third term versus self-described sex crime lawyer Leah Boisclair who is backed by rich MAGA gun nut Dave Levesque.

Here is her "menu" of sex crimes she is willing to defend from her own website:

Rape, child rape, child pornography, sex trafficking, slavery are all crimes Boisclair will defend

Boisclair is running as a Democrat even though she has no connection to the Democratic Party other than to say she’s a Democrat this year. Her signs are popping up along South County Trail, including in front of the house of Charlestown’s most vocal Trumper Jim Mageau.

Her record is that of running a law practice that takes pride in representing child abusers, rapists, spouse beaters, bad drivers, crooks and cheats. She uses her website to advertise these specialties and to seek more such clients.

Sure, under the Constitution, everyone is entitled to the presumption of innocence and to legal counsel. But LAWYERS choose who they will represent.

Even public defenders have discretion under the Code of Professional Responsibility to decline representation to a client if they are unable to mount a rigorous defense. In fact, the Rhode Island version of the Code expressly acknowledges “[A] lawyer is also guided by personal conscience and the approbation of professional peers.”

Boisclair CHOOSES to represent scumbags. Don’t believe me? READ her own website, as well as the screenshots I have presented taken directly from that site. I was particularly impressed with her graphics in this section on her representation of men accused of crimes against women:

But wait, there's MORE! Here are the other types of crime she will defend:

How is Boisclair different from, for example, a mob lawyer? Or a Trump lawyer? Or a lawyer defending men in Jeffrey Epstein’s circle of friends? Or any other pedo protector? I dunno…you tell me.

I would not want to spend a lot of time in her office's waiting room.

On this alone, I could never support Boisclair. Frankly, why would ANY Charlestown voter want Boisclair to represent then in the General Assembly? I’d rather bring back Flip Filippi, even though he represented the January 6 insurrectionists, the Oath Keepers. But as the saying goes, “but wait, there’s more!”

Boisclair’s main backer, far right MAGA gun nut Dave Levesque, set up 40, count ‘em 40, political action committees under the banner of the “League of Rhode Island Businesses” (LORIB). He has a statewide plus 39 “local” PACs, supposedly for each Rhode Island city and town. Their registrations all look the same, with no local people on any of the PACs and that includes the Charlestown LORIB PAC.

See if you can find any connection to Charlestown in the Charlestown LORIB PAC:

Levesque uses these PACs to get around the state campaign finance law limiting PACs to $2000 in contributions to a single candidate. Since Levesque controls all the LORIB PACs, he simply cuts checks to endorsed candidates from several of his PACs.

Levesque owns the Brewed Awakenings coffee shop chain and is a long-time anti-gun control activist. The gun lobby is also heavily backing his candidates.

Support - LORIB Main PAC

Levesque also takes in anonymous donations. In fact, he has solicited donations by advertising how they can game the system to prevent having their names reported as LORIB donors.

He set Boisclair up with six LORIB checks totaling $10,500 coming from six LORIB PACs. There’s the Charlestown LORIB PAC of course, plus the LORIB PACs purporting to be from Westerly, South Kingstown, North Kingstown, Newport and Block Island.

Levesque also opposes any attempt to tax the rich. He was a big opponent to last year’s “Taylor Swift” tax that imposes a state levy on multi-million properties owned by non-residents. He also unsuccessfully fought this year’s “Millionaire Tax” that imposes a 1% income tax surcharge on millionaires.

His candidates, including Leah Boisclair, toe that line. They should have a generic LORIB bumper sticker reading “Don’t regulate guns. Don’t tax the rich.”

Levesque has targeted nearly every Democratic woman legislator in South County because their progressive stances. He is bankrolling opponents to our state Senator Victoria Gu as well as South Kingstown Dems Teresa Tanzi, Carol McEntee, Alana DiMario, Kathy Fogarty and Bridgette Valverde.

Sen. Alana DiMario and Rep. Kathy Fogarty, both targeted by Levesque, introduced legislation to close what ought to be called the “Levesque Loophole” (2026-S 2720, 2026-H 7450) by extending the $2000 limit to apply to multiple PACs that have the same owner. Unfortunately, that legislation did not pass.

Finally, Boisclair’s land use legal work ought to earn her the opposition of the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA), especially this case that was covered by ecoRI (CLICK HERE). So should Jim Mageau’s support for Boisclair.

Those are the negatives. Let’s look at your positive alternative

Why you should vote for Tina Spears

Here's where I stand. Photo by Will Collette

Tina Spears has served all of Charlestown and the rest of House District 36 with distinction for two terms and seeks your vote for re-election.

Tina points to these achievements from the recently completed General Assembly session:

We were able to make life in our community better by:

·       Fully funding library aid

·       Increasing education funding, especially for special education

·       Securing funding for the Charlestown Breachway rebuild

·       Passing the South Kingstown High School bond

·       Advancing legislation allowing New Shoreham to increase landing fees, manage its water district, and better structure its taxing authority. ​

I am especially proud to have sponsored and passed two bills: 

The Act on Coasts provides Rhode Island with a roadmap to strengthen coastal infrastructure in the face of rising seas. Rather than debating the causes, I am focused on preparing our communities, particularly in District 36, for the changes we are already seeing along our coastline 

The Purple Alert establishes an early alert system when individuals with disabilities go missing, making Rhode Island one of a small number of states to prioritize this vulnerable population. In partnership with advocates, families, and public safety officials, we turned a tragic situation into meaningful action that strengthens our public safety response and saves lives.​

Tina has a long record of community service, while Boisclair has none. Tina often teams up with other legislators such as state Senator Victoria Gu to boost her ability to get bills passed. She meets often with voters in her district. On top of that, she’s a genuinely kind and warm-hearted person.

Vote for Tina Spears in the September 9 Democratic primary. You must be a registered Democrat to vote in this primary.

And Tina DOES NOT protect pedos.

Dear Leader has an ingenious plan to end school shootings

Guess you still have the right to choose

Who is responsible?

Two Presidents speak...

Thanks to a MAGA gun nut, Charlestown and South County are about to become a culture war battleground

Charlestown to get ripped up over guns

By Will Collette

Dave Levesque has created 40 pro-gun Rhode Island
PACs and is targeting Democratic women in South County

Rhode Island just experienced its second mass shooting this year. First, Brown University and now the mass shooting at a Pawtucket hockey rink.

Quick to respond was Republican House Minority Leader Mike Chippendale (R-Foster). First, he gives us the rote thoughts and prayers line and then shifts to deflecting away from guns to mental health and the MAGA-inspired national controversy over gender.

Here’s a key section from Chippendale’s statement:

In the immediate aftermath of events like this, public officials often reach for simple explanations. When leaders say this tragedy was “caused by gun violence,” they are transparently reducing a complex human failure to a single talking point. In cases like this, the firearm was the means, not the cause, and violence of this nature almost always involves deeper factors – severe or untreated mental health struggles, instability, isolation, and warning signs that were missed or ignored. If we are serious about prevention, those realities must be part of the conversation.

Granted, there is always a reason, rational or not, why a person takes a gun (or two or more) and kills people. And yes, it is important to look at those reasons and try to figure out how to prevent them from sparking more carnage.

But Chippendale is wrong to dismissively say “the firearm was the means, not the cause."  The decision to kill for whatever reason combined with easy access to guns is what makes the United States the gun murder capital of the world.

This wrenching issue is about to become a central part of Charlestown’s political culture between now and at least through the September 8 Democratic primary.

Send lawyers, guns and money

I went over the end-of-year campaign finance disclosures for Charlestown’s four major political committees to see how they look at the start of the 2026 election year when they engage in the biennial struggle over control of the town.

I also took a look at the campaign figures for House District 36, held by incumbent Rep. Tina Spears. Gun lobby-backed Leah Boisclair is the figurehead candidate for the League of Rhode Island Businesses (LORIB) seeking to defeat Tina in the September 8 Democratic primary.

Just based on the money, it looks like the District 36 race will be Charlestown's first major election event, focused as it is on the Democratic primary that takes place two months before the General Election.

The LORIB candidate Boisclair is running as a Democrat despite having no known ties to the party. Her sponsor, entrepreneur Dave Levesque, set up 40 political action committees (PACs), one for each municipality plus a statewide PAC, to promote his pro-gun agenda. 

He’s also a devoted MAGA dude who vehemently opposes taxes on the rich such as the state’s new Taylor Swift law that levees a state surcharge on high-priced absentee-owned property.

Levesque is running MAGA-style candidates against virtually EVERY Democratic woman in South County. That includes Charlestown’s state senator Victoria Gu. Levesque is backing MAGA nut Westin Place (R) – Victoria beat him handily in the last two elections.

Levesque is putting a lot of cash behind Carolina resident attorney Leah Boisclair, most of it coming from other LORIB PACs and from pro-gun groups. Boisclair’s campaign finance report shows around $25,000 came in during the final quarter of 2025, leaving her with a balance of $20,519.85 to start the year.

You should take a good look at who gave to each campaign because the numbers tell you a lot about the two candidates. As the adage goes, “follow the money.”

Tina Spears with Sen. Victoria Gu.
 Gu is also a LORIB target

Rep. Tina Spears support

Rep. Tina Spears begins the campaign year coming within $200 of matching Boisclair's gun cash. She has cash on hand of $20,306.21. She raised around $15,000 in the final quarter of 2025.

Of that $15,000, only $1,250 came from political action committees, including the state AFL-CIO, the RI Good Government PAC and PACs representing firefighters, construction and public employees.

There were lots of donations from people who appeared to be family, friends, colleagues from non-profits serving children and people in the district.

This list includes a number of well-known local leaders. Among them:

• ·       Charlestown Town Council President Deb Carney
• ·       Lifelong Charlestown activist Frank Glista
• ·       Former Charlestown Democrats chair Kathleen Marra
• ·       Rep. Carol McEntee, South Kingstown
• ·       Tomaquag Museum director Loren Spears
• ·       Jane Merner from Earthcare composting
• ·       Rob Lyons from Ocean House Marina

I’ll be on the list for the next report.

Very different funding profile for Boisclair

Leah Boisclair reported $25,000 raised in the last quarter of 2025. Here’s where her money trail takes us.

She donated $2,500 from her own law practice. According to her website, she focuses on defending clients charged with some very unsavory crimes. In a later article, I will dive in more deeply into the choices she made with her law practice. Meanwhile, here’s how she describes her specialties:

She reported $1,650 from the water and wastewater industry – five different companies including local firms AB Hoxie and Benn Water. She may have won with this business sector’s allegiance through a 2022 Ashaway case (detailed HERE). She represented a residential landowner who wanted to put in a large-scale commercial water distribution well. Benn Water was one of the project’s biggest promoters, but the Town of Hopkinton rejected the proposal.

Several metro lawyers have written checks to Boisclair’s campaign.

The two main hardcore Rhode Island gun PACs, the Gun Owners PAC and the 2^nd Amendment PAC, kicked in $4000.

Very little of her cash comes from Charlestown or the other towns in District 36. One of the rare local donations came from Bill Coulter, owner of Stony Hill Cattle and former chair of the Charlestown Republican Town Committee. Does that mean there won’t be a Republican contender in this race?

The biggest single block of Boisclair’s cash - $10,500 – came from six of Dave Levesque’s League of RI Businesses (LORIB) PACs. They all give their address as a law office at 1410 Reservoir Ave. in Cranston. This includes the so-called Charlestown LORIB. The other five PACs contributing to Boisclair are the ones purporting to be in Westerly, South Kingstown, North Kingstown, Newport and Block Island.

In the Secretary of State’s corporate database, there is only one registration and that’s for the umbrella organization:

As for the financial reports for the PACs themselves, the search trick is to use “The League” when using the Board of Elections database. Other variations don't work.

Then you will find all of them each with basically identical CF-1 Notice of Organization filings naming Levesque as Treasurer. They are all located in Moretti and Preetti's law office shown above, the same incorporator and the same borad.

The Charlestown LORIB PAC is no exception as the screenshot below shows. It's not located in Charlestown and there’s no one from Charlestown on it.

There is a lot of money shuffling among the LORIB PACs. For example, Charlestown’s LORIB donation to Leah Boisclair appears to be a pass-through from the Narragansett LORIB PAC. Narragansett is where Levesque lives. Narragansett LORIB pays Charlestown LORIB who then funds Leah Boisclair. That’s along with five other Levesque PACs.

It’s an elaborate web but what I see is this: It's all about Levesque. Vote for one of his candidates and you are voting for him. A vote for Boisclair is a vote for Levesque’s pro-gun, anti-tax-the-rich MAGA agenda.

Boisclair used to use her Facebook account as a promotional site for gun-nut groups in Rhode Island. She scrubbed those posting, but not before they were captured on screenshots. I have those images. You can count on seeing a lot of them between now and September 8 Democratic Primary where this race is headed. Between now and then, I plan lots more coverage of this important race.

The General Election funding race

As for the General Election, the campaign finance reports for Charlestown’s four major political committees yield few surprises. The four committees go into the 2026 election with the following cash balances:

• ·       Current town leader Charlestown Residents United (CRU), $2,391.90
• ·       Former town leader Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA), $9,170.15
• ·       Charlestown Democratic Town Committee (CDTC), $182.15
• ·       Charlestown Republican Town Committee (CRTC), $3,583.08

None of these committees raised almost nothing in the final quarter of 2025. Charlestown Democrats brought in $15. The other three committees reported no income.

That’s not unusual since in the past, Charlestown’s real campaigning rarely started before July 4.

Finally, the matchups for Charlestown’s two Senate seats shows:

• Incumbent Sen. Victoria Gu (D) who has represented Charlestown south of Route One goes into the year with $28,299.50.
• Her opponent for the third straight time is MAGA nut Republican and LORIB-endorsed Westin Place who goes into the race with $566.66. He hasn’t gotten his infusion of LORIB and gun money yet.

Our embarrassing state Senator Elaine Morgan (R-MAGA) is again running for reelection to represent the northern half of Charlestown. She carries a cash balance of $3,248.27 into the year.

She faces a strong opponent in Samantha (Sam) Wilcox (D), Richmond Town Council President. Sam goes into election year with $7,533.71. I’m proud to say I am on her donor list.

Hey MAGA gun fans! Surprise! Donald Trump is coming for your guns!

Right here

South County women under attack from MAGA gun nut

Charlestown’s Rep. Tina Spears and Sen. Victoria Gu among them

By Will Collette

A new right-wing political group hopes to decimate the ranks of Democratic state legislators representing most of South County. It’s called “The League of Rhode Island Businesses (LORIB)” which has set up 40 political action committees all over the state – one in each municipality and the state PAC.

This new group was founded by Trump supporter David Levesque, a Warwick coffee shop owner who says he was motivated by the state’s passage of a ban on assault weapons. In addition to gun rights, the League is also vehemently opposed to taxes on the rich such as the state’s new Taylor Swift law that levees a state surcharge on high-priced absentee-owned property.

The League has already announced a slate of candidates and plans to recruit more who will push Levesque’s MAGA agenda. Most of his targets are women, all are Democrats. Most of the targets voted to ban military-style assault rifles.

Who is on the LORIB target list in South County?

•     Rep. Tina Spears (Charlestown, Westerly, Block Island, So. Kingstown)
•     Sen. Victoria Gu (Westerly, Charlestown)
•     Sen. Alana DiMario
•     Sen. Bridgette ValVerde
•     Rep. Carol Hagen McEntee
•     Rep. Kathy Fogarty

Levesque is looking for candidates to challenge:

•     Rep. Teresa Tanzi
•     Rep. Julie Casimiro
•     And to challenge for the open seat being vacated in North Kingstown by Rep. Bob Craven

In all but one instance, the League is backing DINO candidates in the hope of unseating incumbents in the Democratic primary. The exception is Sen. Victoria Gu – LORIB’s only Republican pick is MAGAnut Westin Place who was trounced by Victoria twice (2022 and 2024).

Levesque also has a major South County footprint as a Narragansett resident and principal in the following businesses:

I am hoping Levesque’s focus on the primaries will backfire. By definition, only registered Democrats can vote in those primaries and primary voters tend to pay more attention than voters in the General election. Democratic Town Committees will need to make sure voters understand what’s at stake and may need to prepare to counter business-sponsored mailer blitzes.

The Providence Journal says the League of Rhode Island Businesses “pledged full financial support” to its endorsed candidates. Whether Levesque can actually raise enough money to back up that pledge remains to be seen. It’s not showing up in any serious way in their most recent Campaign Finance reports.

The League of RI Businesses Charlestown reported a cash balance of $15. Its registered office is in Cranston.

Last October, attorney Leah Boisclair was among the first of the LORIB candidates to declare, bagging a Westerly Sun “top story.” The article was pretty much a news release, light on detail and high on puff. However, looking a little deeper into Boisclair’s record, there wasn’t much there besides her defense of criminal defendants.

She’s a defense attorney who, according to her website, defends clients charged with violent crime, domestic abuse, crimes against property and sex crimes.

She is a self-described "Sex Crimes Defense Attorney." I'm not making this up.

Of course, under the Constitution, everyone is judged to be innocent until proven guilty and is entitled to a defense. Here is a list copied directly from her website listing the types of sex crimes she defends:

Sexual Assault

• First-Degree Sexual Assault (Rape)
• Second-Degree Sexual Assault (Sexual Contact)
• Third-Degree Sexual Assault (Statutory Rape)

Child Molestation

• First-Degree Child Molestation (Rape)
• Second-Degree Child Molestation (Sexual Contact)
• Third-Degree Child Molestation (Statutory Rape)

Sex Crimes Charges

• Indecent Exposure
• Video Voyeurism
• Unauthorized Dissemination of Indecent Material

Child Exploitation or Harm

• Possession of Child Pornography
• Distribution of Child Pornography
• Indecent Solicitation of a Minor
• Exploitation for Commercial Purposes
• Electronic Dissemination of Indecent Material to Minors
• Cruelty to or Neglect of a Child
• Child Endangerment
• Patronizing a Minor for Commercial Sexual Activity

Prostitution-Related Offenses

• Procurement of Sexual Conduct for a Fee
• Loitering for Prostitution
• Solicitation of Prostitution
• Promoting or Permitting Prostitution
• Trafficking an Individual
• Sexual Servitude
• Forced Labor

I’m not making any of this up – this is from HER website.

Again, while everyone is entitled to a defense and presumption of innocence, I’m sure glad I’m not the one doing the defending. Further, I’m not very comfortable with this promotional piece, especially the stilettos and underwear, shown in this screenshot from her website:

Given her portfolio, her practice would probably be very successful in Washington, DC with its abundance of pedos and sexual predators. Maybe her MAGA sponsor felt that this portfolio was a plus for her. This is a question that I hope will be explored during the campaign.

I didn’t see much in her history about any sort of public service or civic engagement. She waitressed at the Homestead on Route 2 and staffed a booth for the Grange at the Washington County Fair, but that was about it. She’s running as a Democrat, but I’ve never seen her at any local Democratic function.

Maybe we’ll learn more about her as the campaign year progresses.

I’ll also be curious to see whether the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) weighs in. The CCA backed Libertarian Republican Blake “Flip” Filippi in his defeat of long-time District 36 state Rep. Donna Walsh. Will they support the LORIB PAC effort to oust Rep. Spears and Senator Gu?

But for now, Charlestown has an outstanding state representative in Tina Spears who is running for reelection to a 3^rd term. Compare her record of community service and legislative effectiveness to Boisclair’s and I believe the choice is clear.

Christmas in America

 

School shootings dropped in 2025 - but schools are still focusing too much on safety technology instead of prevention

US owns almost half of all the guns in the world, around 500 million

James Densley, Metropolitan State University

Wrong questions. Wrong answers

Active shootings represent a very small percentage of on-campus university violence.

But among those that do happen, there are patterns. And as law enforcement officials continue to investigate the Dec. 13, 2025, Brown University shooting, similarities can be seen with other active shooter cases on college campuses that scholar James Densley has studied. “They tend to happen inside a classroom, and there tends to be multiple victims,” Densley explains.

The Brown University tragedy, in which a shooter killed two students and injured nine more, marks the fourth deadly shooting at a U.S. university in 2025.

The Department of Education in Rhode Island, where Brown University is located, said on Dec. 16 that it is urging local elementary and secondary schools to review safety protocols.

Amy Lieberman, the education editor at The Conversation U.S., spoke with Densley about how schools have been given what he describes as an “impossible mandate” to try to prevent shootings.

What is the overall trajectory of school shootings over the past few years?

K-12 school shootings appear to be trending downward, at least in the past two years. But we actually saw the largest jumps in this type of violence in the three to five years leading up to 2024, which trends closely with the broader rise in homicide and violent crime we saw in the pandemic era.

In 2025, there have been 230 school shooting incidents in the U.S. – still a staggeringly high number. This compares with 336 school shootings in 2024, 352 in 2023, 308 in 2022, and 257 in 2021.

How this relates to an increase in schools trying to institute security measures to prevent shootings is an open question. But it’s true that many schools are experimenting with certain solutions, like cameras, drones, AI threat detection, weapons scanners, panic apps and facial recognition, even if there is only weak or emerging evidence about how well they work.

Schools are treated as the front line, because the larger, structural solutions are too difficult to confront. It is much easier to blame schools after a tragedy than to actually address firearm access, grievance pathways – meaning how a person becomes a school shooter – and the other societal problems that are creating these tragedies.

FBI posts images of new "person of interest" and offers reward

MIDNIGHT UPDATE on the Brown shooting

Deadly Brown Shooting Spurs Calls for Action on Guns

Jessica Corbett for Common Dreams

With at least two people dead, several others in critical but stable condition at Rhode Island Hospital, and a suspect at large after a Saturday shooting at Brown University in Providence, gun violence prevention advocates and some US lawmakers renewed calls for swift action to take on what the nonprofit Brady called “a uniquely American problem” that “is completely preventable.”

A suspect ("person of interest") was arrested just before 5 AM at a hotel in Coventry. Shelter in place orders were lifted at 7 AM. Tonight, he was identified as Benjamin Erickson, 24, from Wisconsin. Police say they found two handguns in his hotel room. NEW: Just after 11 PM, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley and police officials held a unscheduled briefing to say that Erickson was being released, noting that it was unfortunate his name was released. That means there is NO suspect in custody and the killer is still on the loose.

“Our hearts are with the victims, survivors, their families, and the entire community of Brown University and the surrounding Providence area in this horrific time,” said Brady president Kris Brown in a statement. “As students prepare for finals and then head home to loved ones for the holidays, our all-too-American gun violence crisis has shattered their safety.”

“Guns are the leading cause of death for youth in this nation. Only in America do we live in fear of being shot and killed in our schools, places of worship, and grocery stores,” she continued. “Now, as students, faculty, and staff hide and barricade themselves in immense fear, we once again call on lawmakers in Congress and around the country to take action against this uniquely American public health crisis. We cannot continue to allow politics and special interests to take priority over our lives and safety.”

THIS is the misinformation posted by Trump just two
hours after the shooting. Local and university officials
scrambled to correct this malicious interference. At 6 PM, 
he posted a retraction that blamed Brown University 
police for having "reversed their previous statement."
There was no such previous statement.

Despite some early misinformation ➡, no suspects are in custody, and authorities were searching for a man in dark clothing. 

The law enforcement response is ongoing and Brown remains in lockdown, according to a 9:29 pm Eastern update on the university’s website. Everyone is urged to shelter in place, which “means keeping all doors locked and ensuring no movement across campus.”

The Ivy League university’s president, Christina H. Paxson, said in a public message that “this is a deeply tragic day for Brown, our families, and our local community. There are truly no words that can express the deep sorrow we are feeling for the victims of the shooting that took place today at the Barus & Holley engineering and physics building.”

US Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) said on social media that he was “praying for the victims and their families,” and thanked the first responders who “put themselves in harm’s way to protect all of us.” He also echoed the city’s mayor, Brett Smiley, “in urging Rhode Islanders to heed only official updates from Brown University and the Providence Police.”

In a statement, US Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) also acknowledged everyone impacted by “this horrific, active, and unfolding tragedy,” and stressed the importance of everyone listening to law enforcement “as they continue working to ensure the entire campus and surrounding community is safe, and the threat is neutralized.”

The state’s two Democratic congressmen, Brown alumnus Seth Magaziner and Gabe Amo, released similar statements. Amo also said that “the scourge of mass shootings is a horrific stain on our nation. We must seek policies to ensure that these tragedies do not strike yet another community and no more lives are needlessly taken from us.”

Elected officials at various levels of government across the country sent their condolences to the Brown community. Some also used the 389th US mass shooting this year and the 230th gun incident on school grounds—according to Brady’s president—to argue that, as US House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (Mass.) put it, “it’s past time for us to act and stop senseless gun violence from happening again.”

New York City’s democratic socialist mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani, noted that this shooting occurred just before the anniversary of the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut:

This senseless violence—once considered unfathomable—has become nauseatingly normal to all of us across our nation. Tonight, on the eve of the anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting, we find ourselves in mourning once again.

The epidemic of gun violence stretches across America. We reckon with it when we step into our houses of worship and out onto our streets, when we drop our children off at kindergarten and when we fear if those children, now grown, will be safe on campus. But unlike so many other epidemics, we possess the cure. We have the power to eradicate this suffering from our lives if we so choose.

I send my deepest condolences to the families of the victims, and to the Brown and Providence communities, who are wrestling with a grief that will feel familiar to far too many others. May we never allow ourselves to grow numb to this pain, and let us rededicate ourselves to the enduring work of ending the scourge of gun violence in our nation.

Fred Guttenberg has been advocating against gun violence since his 14-year-old daughter was among those murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida nearly eight years ago. He said on social media that he knows two current students at Brown and asserted that “IT DOESN’T NEED TO BE THIS WAY!!!”

Students Demand Action similarly declared: “Make no mistake: We DO NOT have to live and die like this. Our lawmakers fail us every day that they refuse to take action on gun violence.”

Gabby Giffords, a former Democratic congresswoman from Arizona who became an activist after surviving a 2011 assassination attempt, said that “my heart breaks for Brown University. Students should only have to worry about studying for finals right now, not hiding from gunfire. Guns are the leading cause of death for young people in America—this is a five-alarm fire and our leaders in Washington have ignored it for too long. Americans are tired of waiting around for Congress to decide that protecting kids matters.”

John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, warned that “we either take action, or we bury more of our kids.”

The Associated Press noted that “Rhode Island has some of the strictest gun laws in the US. Last spring the Democratic-controlled Legislature passed an assault weapon ban that will prohibit the sale and manufacturing of certain high-powered firearms, but not their possession, starting next July.”

Gun violence prevention advocates often argue for federal restrictions, given that, as Everytown’s latest analysis of state-level policies points out, “even the strongest system can’t protect a state from its neighbors’ weak laws.”