On Sunday, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he wanted “sensible gun control” in response to the mass shooting at a supermarket in his city on Saturday.
Brown said, “The thing that this tragedy shows us is that this can occur anywhere. It’s not just Buffalo. It’s how to make people all across this country feel safe. It’s not just African-Americans. It’s how to make people in urban America, suburban America, and rural America feel safe. The only way to do it is to really get to the point of sensible gun control in this country, to end hate speech on the internet and social media, to stop the proliferation of hateful ideology. Those are the ways that we make black people feel safe in Buffalo, that we make people feel safe all across this country.”
He continued, “There are some on one side of the aisle that block anything from being done. It seems like there are those that believe owning a gun is more precious than the sanctity of human life. So I think people all across this country have to rise up. They have to speak more loudly and more clearly that there must be gun control in this country. This is a uniquely American phenomenon. these mass shootings don’t happen in other countries across the world.”
Brown added, “I’d like to see real, deliberate action taken on gun control and ending hate speech on the internet. I will be a stronger voice for that. I’ve heard from mayors all over the country in the aftermath of this incident. I’ve heard from mayors, actually, all across the world. And I believe that what happened in Buffalo, New York yesterday is going to be a turning point. I think it’s going to be different after this in terms of the energy and the activity that we see.”
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