May 17, 2022: PPC Statement on the Carnage in Buffalo

Posted on May 17, 2022 at 12:00 AM

It is obscene and maddening that the country must process yet another senseless, bloody weekend. Ten innocent people were slaughtered and three wounded at a Buffalo supermarket brought about by a lethal combination: hate and easy access to military-style weapons.  An assassin’s act of white supremacy-fueled violence has terminated the futures of ten human beings and forever altered the lives of their loving families and the communities where they lived.

Yes, we need to call out Fox “News” and other cable networks whose programs fuel domestic terrorism with their poisonous rants about “white replacement theory”; but we must also demand action now from the U.S. Senate to support common-sense gun laws. The House has already taken responsible action in March of 2021, when it passed legislation supported by a majority of voters, requiring background checks for all gun buyers and extending the time the F.B.I. has to vet any buyer flagged by NICS, the national instant criminal background check system. We implore Majority Leader Schumer to force a vote on this House-passed legislation, so Senators are on record one way or the other for or against public desires to enact sensible gun laws to protect our families and communities. Then, as always, it’s up to us voters in November to elect those leaders dedicated to ending the senseless and disgraceful scourge of gun violence in this country.