One year ago today, an individual who had posted a white supremacist manifesto, armed with an AR-15 style firearm, killed 10 Black Americans and injured three others at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. Ten days later, another lone gunman, again armed with an AR-15 style firearm, killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
Jill and I visited both communities, spending hours with hundreds of family members who lost pieces of their soul and whose lives will never be the same. They had one message for all of us: Do something. For God’s sake, do something.
I carried their message back to Washington, which finally broke the congressional logjam. Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the most significant gun safety legislation in nearly 30 years.
At the bill signing, in front of families from Buffalo, Uvalde and too many other communities affected by gun violence, I said the new law was real progress. It strengthens firearms background checks for young people, expands the use of red flag laws to temporarily remove firearms from those who are a danger to themselves or others, helps prevent domestic abusers from purchasing guns and makes historic investments in mental health to address the grief and trauma resulting from gun violence.
I also urged Congress to take this victory as a call to action, an opening to do more to reduce gun violence.
We need to do more. In the year after the Buffalo tragedy, our country has experienced more than 650 mass shootings and well over 40,000 deaths due to gun violence, according to one analysis.
Just last weekend, an assailant in tactical gear and armed with an AR-15 style weapon killed eight individuals, including children, at a shopping mall in Allen, Texas. Guns are the number one killer of children and teens in America.
How gun violence impacts kids:‘We’re scared for our lives going to school’: Are we listening as our children ask for help?
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