WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock said the speech he delivered on the U.S. Senate floor Monday evening was the third he had given memorializing people killed in a mass shooting in Georgia, and he encouraged Congress to pass legislation limiting access to firearms.
“This is not a political issue. It is a moral issue,” the Atlanta Democrat and pastor told his Senate colleagues. “And the glimmer of hope is that most American families feel the same way.”
Warnock said he was touched by the conversations he had on Friday when he attended a memorial service for the victims of the shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder.
There were students who said they were still traumatized from the memories of hearing bangs on the classroom door and huddling together. Others had lost their beloved math teacher, coach Richard “Ricky” Aspinwall.
Warnock said he also got a chance to speak with the family of Christian Angulo, one of two 14-year-olds killed.
“The father shared with me that they had moved from California to a small town in Georgia looking for a quiet and peaceful life,” Warnock said. “Sad irony. Tragic irony.”
Warnock did not mention Ohio U.S. Sen. JD Vance by name, but he criticized remarks former President Donald Trump’s vice presidential running mate made in which he bemoaned school shootings as a “fact of life” that required schools to be better fortified.
“So we’re going to harden every school in America? Harden every grocery store in America?” Warnock said. “What about the shopping malls? What about the spas? What about the medical clinics? What about the houses of worship? Is that the answer? Are we going to turn the whole country into a fort, just so 14-year-olds can have AR-15s?”
Warnock did not suggest any specific policy change. But he called on lawmakers in Washington and at the state level to find bipartisan solutions to limit gun violence.
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