Progressives Condemn Recent Acts Of Gun Violence and Uphold Peaceful Freedom of Speech

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, September 11, 2025
CONTACT: Sara Loflin, Executive Director at sara@progressnowcolorado.org

DENVER: Responding to two tragic acts of gun violence in the last 24 hours in Jefferson County, Colorado and Orem, Utah, ProgressNow Colorado, the state’s largest multi-issue progressive advocacy organization, released the following statement:

“One Evergreen High School Student is still fighting for their life, another was shot, and the 16-year-old gunman is dead,” said ProgressNow Colorado executive director Sara Loflin. “All three were teenagers. Charlie Kirk was murdered before an audience of thousands at Utah Valley University. The Evergreen community and those in the audience in Orem, Utah will never be the same.”

“While social media and pundits attempt to make sense of the ongoing pandemic of school shootings alongside the rise in American political violence, the plain fact is that in our national rhetoric, we have lost site of compassion and community,” said Loflin.

“While we rightly uphold the responsibility to reject political violence and defend freedom of speech, it is high time we reject dehumanizing rhetoric,” said Loflin. “It is past time to call out and reject sensationalistic rhetoric, like Trump’s angry, partisan response to Kirk’s death as dangerous—and that the cost to our families and communities is far too expensive.”

“Lives lost to gun violence are a tragedy,” said Loflin. “We cannot ignore that historically marginalized communities—Black, Brown, Indigenous, LGBTQIA+, Jewish and Muslim—are bearing the brunt of political violence across the country, from ICE raids to the militarization of Chicago and DC and the hateful rise of antisemitism. Our communities, our children, our country deserve better.”

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