Hastings-on-Hudson woman to go on hunger strike against gun violence

A Hudson Valley woman says she is going on a hunger strike in an effort to stop gun violence nationwide.
The hunger strike comes on the heels of a double shooting in New Windsor that left a 21-year-old woman dead and sent a 20-year-old man to the hospital. The incident happened Saturday morning at the Knox Village Apartments.
There have been 308 mass shootings in the U.S. so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
Shai Stephenson, an elementary school teacher in the Bronx, wants to put a cap on that number by going on what she calls a traditional hunger strike.
"Right now, I am eating one meal a day, and in October, it's going to look more like a traditional hunger strike where I will just be taking in fluids," she says.
The Hastings-on-Hudson woman says she’s been hungry for change since the beginning of September, and isn't stopping until she sees it.

"Every time I feel hungry, I am thinking about all of these victims, all of these people whose choices got taken away from them,” she says.

With the guidance of her doctor, she’s slowly easing into a solely liquid diet.
News 12 was in Stephenson’s kitchen where she was cooking up her only meal for the day. On the menu was baked chicken with some yellow rice, cabbage and carrots.
She hopes her efforts will help stir a pot of change.
"What I'm advocating for are meaningful background checks, a ban on assault rifles,” Stephenson says.