Jacksonville attack sparks examination of racially motivated shootings
Recent mass shootings — including the 2019 El Paso attack on a Latino community, a 2018 attack where a gunman focused the weapon on a synagogue in Pittsburgh, and the 2023 Buffalo shooting by a white supremacist on a supermarket targeting Black citizens — has put activists and lawmakers at a heightened sense of urgency on pressing lawmakers to take action.
The Brady Campaign to End Gun violence is trying to create a national law to prevent people convicted of hate or bias crimes from buying a gun. Right now, only seven states have similar laws.
SEE MORE: Deadly Racism: The Jacksonville Shooting
Advocates say the legislation would help protect people, like the ones in Jacksonville, who were murdered suddenly while doing ordinary things, living out their daily lives.
Civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton said, while at the White House meeting with President Joe Biden, that the victims in Jacksonville were just Black and going shopping. Sharpton said the country needs to urgently fight against all racism, antisemitism, homophobia and misogyny.
President Biden emphasized how attacks like this tear families and communities apart, and are incredibly traumatic.
"I'm letting things settle because, you know, everybody deals with profound loss in a different way. And it's important that — I know from experience — it's important to try to do it in a way that is most helpful, and eases the anxiety the most. So, I haven't spoken to them yet," the president told reporters on Monday.
