Celebrities React To UCSB Shooting

After 22-year-old Elliot Rodger allegedly went on a stabbing and shooting rampage on the campus of UC Santa Barbara as well as in his own household Saturday, May 24, killing six, friends and family are currently in mourning.

Many have reached out through social media to express their condolences for the victims and their families with some celebrities even taking the time to discuss their thoughts on this senseless violence and the need for change. Some have linked videos of victim Christopher Martinez’s father calling out the National Rifle Association through an emotional statement to the press, while others have chosen to comment on the issue of mental health in our communities.

This is not the first time that celebrities have backed a movement to change the system by providing more gun control or putting more of an emphasis on mental health. In fact, these topics have come up in numerous conversations after far too many shootings of the same nature.

In 2012, celebrities like Jon Hamm, Ellen DeGeneres, Beyonce, Elizabeth Banks, and Jennifer Garner amongst a list of many others, came together for the Demand A Plan gun control PSA asking the nation to think of the past shootings like Columbine, Virginia Tech and Sandy Hook and to help raise awareness and demand change. In this powerful video, they asked questions like “How many more colleges?,” How many more movie theaters?,” “How many more houses of faith?,” and “How many more shopping malls?”

Similarly, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence created a PSA in 2013, We Are Better Than This, both with families of victims, survivors, and celebrities like Mariska Hargitay, Mark Ruffalo and Naomi Watts, to call attention to the issue of gun violence.

Every time a major act of gun violence has taken place, celebrities have come to support victims of gun violence and their families, whether through these PSAs, Facebook and Twitter, and with hospital visits. Though it should not take a few celebrities for us to get our act together and start preventing these shootings before they happen, they do help by speaking on behalf of many whose voices cannot be heard. Many in the nation who wanted to act on gun violence before yet more innocent lives were taken.

Celebrities and everyday citizens alike are reacting and the time for politicians to start doing something to stop these tragedies is long overdue.