Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) on Sunday took aim at some politicians whom he described as “beholden to the gun lobby” while lamenting his frustrations about gun violence in the wake of last week’s school shooting at a Georgia high school.
“The reality is that in America, it’s not safe to be in our schools. It’s not safe to be in our shopping malls. It’s not safe to be in the spa. It’s not safe to be in a medical clinic. We’re all sitting ducks,” Warnock said on NBC News’s “Meet the Press.”
And any country that allows this to continue without putting forward just common-sense gun safety measures is a country that has, in a tragic way, lost its way. Politicians need to realign their values.”
Warnock said there is “no one single law” to prevent school shootings when asked by NBC News anchor Kristen Welker.
“In a sense, I think we have to broaden the scope of the question because, after all, we have two mass shootings a day in our country, based on the data just last year,” he said. “And this does not happen everywhere in the world. The problem is that we have politicians in our country who are beholden to the gun lobby. And either based on ambition or fear, they go to work every day doing their bidding while the gun lobby lines its pockets with the blood of our children.”
The gun lobby is a term usually referring to state and federal efforts to influence gun policies, often in the form of supporting candidates who are against gun control measures.
The remarks come days after a gunman opened fire at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga. last week, killing two students and two teachers.
The suspect, 14-year-old Colt Gray, was charged with four counts of felony murder.
“Listen, 14-year-olds don’t need AR-15s, and we need to get these military-style weapons off the streets,” Warnock said.
Warnock called for action in Congress, stating the few gun safety policies that have passed were “not enough” to prevent last week’s shooting in his home state.
“The best – the least we can do is move forward on the bipartisan spaces where ordinary people agree,” he said. “Clearly, there’s a disconnect between what the people, the American people want and what they’re able to get out of their government.”
He pointed to a Fox News poll taken in April 2023, which found 87 percent of voters are in favor of requiring criminal background checks for all gun buyers.