Following a mass shooting that killed one and injured four at Northside Hospital Medical Midtown in Atlanta, Senator Reverend Warnock delivered remarks on the Senate floor calling on Congress to take immediate action to curb gun violence

The search is ongoing for a gunman that killed one and injured four at Northside Hospital Medical Midtown in Atlanta

Senator Reverend Warnock: “My own two children were on lockdown this afternoon. I have two small children, and their schools are on lockdown responding to this tragedy. They are there, I’m here hoping and praying that they are safe. But the truth is, none of us is safe”

Senator Reverend Warnock: “In fact, it is a contradiction to say that you are thinking and praying and then do nothing. It is to make a mockery of prayer. It is to trivialize faith. We pray not only with our lips, we pray with our legs. We pray by taking action”

Senator Reverend Warnock: “The people’s voices have been squeezed out of their democracy. And there’s a growing chasm between what the people actually want and what they can get from their government”

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) delivered remarks on the U.S. Senate floor calling on Congress to take action to curb the nation’s gun violence crisis following a mass shooting in Atlanta that according to media reports has killed at least one Georgian and injured at least four others. Watch Senator Warnock’s floor remarks here. 

See here for key excerpts of the remarks:

“That’s what makes this particular shooting ironic, and deeply upsetting because it underscores the fact that none of us is safe, no matter where we are. This happened in a medical facility where people are trying to find healing.” 

“My own two children were on lockdown this afternoon. I have two small children, and their schools are on lockdown responding to this tragedy. They are there, I’m here hoping and praying that they are safe. But the truth is, none of us is safe.”

“In fact, it is a contradiction to say that you are thinking and praying and then do nothing. It is to make a mockery of prayer. It is to trivialize faith. We pray not only with our lips, we pray with our legs. We pray by taking action.” 

“Mass shootings as routine is not the cost of freedom. It is the cost of blind obstinance.”

“The people’s voices have been squeezed out of their democracy. And there’s a growing chasm between what the people actually want and what they can get from their government.”

“I’m pleading, I’m begging all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to remember the covenant that we have with one another as an American people to stand up in this defining moment and do everything we can to protect all of us and certainly all of our children.”

See below for a full transcript of the remarks:

“Madam President, I rise today in shock, and sorrow, and in grief for my home state.

“And if I am honest, I rise really with a deep sense of anger about what is happening in our country in the area of gun violence, and death.

“I stood here in March of 2021, after a gunman went on a rampage across metro Atlanta, and snatched eight precious souls— people with families and friends who love them dearly.

“And here I am standing again. This time with a tragedy having occurred in Midtown Atlanta— right in my own backyard. And while this is still a developing situation, according to media reports, so far, at least five people were shot— five on a random afternoon. And there’s been one fatality, the others taken to the hospital.

“I want to take a moment and thank law enforcement officials, for keeping us as safe as they can. I want to thank them for their work, trying to apprehend this individual.

“I’m also thankful for local media who are keeping all of us informed and I’m grateful for our first responders to people in health care — the people on the frontlines — we count on them every day to care for those who are injured to respond to people in peril.

“And that’s what makes this particular shooting ironic, and deeply upsetting because it underscores the fact that none of us is safe, no matter where we are.

“This happened in a medical facility where people are trying to find healing.

“And so, I want to underscore that, because there have been so many mass shootings— in fact about one every day in this country this year— that tragically, we act as if this is routine. We behave as if this is normal. It is not normal.

“It is not right for us to live in a nation where nobody is safe, no matter where they are. We’re not safe in our schools. We’re not safe in our workplaces. We’re not safe at the grocery store. We’re not safe at movie theaters. We’re not safe at spas. We’re not safe in our houses of worship.

“There is no sanctuary in the sanctuary.

“We’re not safe at concerts. We’re not safe at banks. We’re not safe at parades. We’re not safe in our own yards and in our own homes. And now today, we can add medical facilities to that list.

“And still we have done so very little in this building to respond and in the American political square at large. And I think there’s an unspoken assumption: ‘this won’t happen to me; it won’t happen to people that I love.’

“But with a mass shooting every day, the truth is the chances are great. I shudder to say it, but the truth is, in a real sense, is only a matter of time that this kind of tragedy comes knocking on your door. And then in a deeper sense, I think it’s important for us to recognize that it’s already happening to you.

“You may not be the victim of a mass shooting; you may not know anyone who’s the victim of a mass shooting yet. But in a real sense, it is already happening to all of us. Dr. King was right: ‘we are tied in the single garment of destiny caught up in an inescapable network of mutuality. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.’

“This is knocking on all of our doors. And I feel this this afternoon, in a very real sense.

“I feel it in my bones because my own two children were on lockdown this afternoon. I have two small children, and their schools are on lockdown responding to this tragedy. They are there, I’m here hoping and praying that they are safe. But the truth is, none of us is safe.

“As a pastor, I’m praying for those who are affected by this tragedy. But I hasten to say that thoughts and prayers are not enough.

“And in fact, in fact, it is a contradiction to say that you are thinking and praying and then do nothing. It is to make a mockery of prayer. It is to trivialize faith.

“We pray not only with our lips, we pray with our legs. We pray by taking action.

“And still there those who want to convince us that this is the cost of freedom. To them, we have to say no. This ongoing, slow-moving tragedy in our country.

“Mass shootings as routine, is not the cost of freedom. It is the cost of blind obstinance.

“A refusal to change course even when the evidence suggests we must do something different. It is the cost of demagoguery. Those who want to convince us that common sense gun reform is somehow a call to take everybody’s guns. This is not the cost of freedom. Dare I say it, it is the cost of greed. Gun lobbyists willing to line their pockets, even at the costs of our children.

“And so, we must act.

“I’m proud of the fact that we did, after 30 years, pass some gun safety legislation here last Congress — it was a significant piece of legislation, but obviously is not enough.

“87% or more of Americans believe that we ought to have universal background checks. And still we can’t get it. Think about that. In a country where everybody says we’re divided. And there are deep divisions to be sure. There’s disagreement on this issue, to be sure.

“But in a country where there is 87% agreement on something, there’s no movement on it in Congress. Which means that that’s the problem with our democracy.

“The people’s voices have been squeezed out of their democracy. And there’s a growing chasm between what the people actually want and what they can get from their government.

“And we saw it in a stark and ugly way a few weeks ago, when we had to brave young legislators stand up in Tennessee — three in fact. And the same legislature that refused to do anything on gun violence, came down on them with all of their might and expelled them from the legislature.

“We have to stand up against these anti-democratic forces at work in our country.

“And we have to give the people their voices back.

“And if we refuse to act while our children are dying, and in a moment when no one is safe, then shame on us. Shame on us if we allow this to happen, and we do absolutely nothing.

“St. Augustine, the African Bishop of the early church said that hope has two beautiful daughters. He said they are both beautiful: anger and courage. Anger with the way things are and courage to see that they do not remain as they are.

“I’m pleading, I’m begging all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to remember the covenant that we have with one another as an American people to stand up in this defining moment and do everything we can to protect all of us and certainly all of our children.

“We owe it to the people who have sent us here.

“I know that there are those who will look at this moment and say, politically, do you really think we can get anything done here?

“They will ask if this is the time given the state of politics in our country right now.

“I respond with the words of Dr. King, who said that ‘The time is always right to do what is right.’

“And that time is right now.

“Madam President, I yield the floor.”

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