Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Monday he’ll meet Tuesday with students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, nearly two weeks after 17 students were killed in a shooting on campus.
“In the wake of the horrific shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School, the deadliest school shooting since Sandy Hook, there has been a broad national conversation about the epidemic of gun violence in this country,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Monday afternoon. “It’s being led by a group of brave high school students, the friends, classmates of the fallen who I will be sitting down with tomorrow.”
“Their passion and eloquence have been a moral force for change,” Schumer said. “Thank God for these students.”
Schumer urged his fellow Senate lawmakers to not take “half-measures” in response to the shooting, and said he is “glad to hear” President Trump talk openly about comprehensive background check legislation and that gun safety is being discussed once again.
Trump supports legislation that would tighten up federal background checks of prospective gun purchasers, which was introduced by Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Chris Murphy, D-Conn. The bill, which has been endorsed by the National Rifle Association, would reinforce requirement for federal and state agencies to report infractions to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS.
However, Schumer does not believe the bill is enough of a response, and said Congress needs to pass a law mandating universal background checks.
“If we only pass Fix NICS, we’ll be right back here after the next shooting in nearly the same place,” Schumer said. “If all Congress does in response to the Parkland shooting is to pass Fix NICS, we won’t be doing our job. We must do much more than that.”
