Washington, D.C. — On Saturday, May 14, the deadly combination of virulent white supremacist ideology and easy access to weapons of war wrought terror on an innocent, majority-Black community in Buffalo, New York. In just minutes, 10 people were murdered and three were injured in a brazen white supremacist terror attack. Making this senseless tragedy all the more enraging are the myriad commonsense gun safety measures that have sat dormant on legislators’ desks for years and could have prevented this tragedy.
A new column released today by the Center for American Progress highlights several of these policies that lawmakers must pass immediately:
- Enact legislation prohibiting individuals who have been convicted of misdemeanor-level hate crimes from gun purchase, possession, or transfer.
- Ban high-capacity magazines and assault weapons
- Enact legislation to require background checks for gun sales by unlicensed individuals and firearm transfers between private parties.
- Enact legislation and continue to enforce the regulatory action on untraceable “ghost guns”
“Not only are these recommendations popular with the American people, but, more importantly, they are also lifesaving measures that could have prevented the shooting in Buffalo and countless other tragedies across the country,” said Nicole Lee Ndumele, senior vice president for Rights and Justice at CAP and co-author of the column. “These actions must be accompanied by complementary steps to combat the cancer of white supremacy that is fueled by many conservative lawmakers, spread across social media platforms, and peddled by mainstream cable news channels. The tragedy in Buffalo is the latest painful chapter in a long and ugly history—and lawmakers are not absolved of the responsibility for this tragedy. They must act now.”
Read the column: “In the Aftermath of the White Supremacist Buffalo Terror Attack, These Policies Could Help Prevent Future Hate-Fueled Crimes” by Nicole Lee Ndumele and Eugenio Weigend
For more information or to speak with an expert, contact Julia Cusick at [email protected] or Tricia Woodcome at [email protected].