Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On The Two Year Anniversary Of The Tragic Buffalo Mass Shooting

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on the two year anniversary of the racially motivated mass shooting that claimed ten lives at a Tops Supermarket in Buffalo, NY. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Two years ago today, barbarity descended upon the City of Good Neighbors.

My heart, soul, and spirit are with the people of Buffalo, New York today as they observe the second tragic anniversary of the shooting at the Tops Supermarket. In the span of just a few minutes, ten precious lives were extinguished in a senseless act of hatred from a white supremacist.

Racism is America’s original sin, and our work is never done until we do everything to rid our society of this vicious evil.

May God watch over the souls of all who died two years ago today. May those of us who remember them find the strength and courage and will to prevent tragedies like this in the future.

America has tragically endured many senseless shootings since the massacre at Buffalo. Gun violence is one of America’s gravest societal ills, and it seems to be increasing.

But two years ago, we also learned that the situation is not entirely hopeless, because after the advent of what happened in Buffalo and Uvalde and some other places, Democrats and Republicans actually joined together to pass the first gun safety bill in nearly thirty years, the first since the Brady Bill I authored way back a long time ago while was still in the House. This is the first one since then.

Later this month, the Administration will bring into effect one of the key elements of our bill by expanding background checks and closing loopholes for online sales and gun shows.

Our rule expanding background checks shows change is possible when both sides work together, even if progress is hard and halting. A few years ago, this announcement would have been unimaginable.

We will never be able to fully heal the harms unleashed by gun violence, but we can honor those we lost by continuing the work to make mass shootings a thing of the past. We have long way to go, but today, as we remember those who died in Buffalo, let us recommit to keep going no matter what it takes.

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