In remarks from the U.S. Senate floor, Senator Reverend Warnock honored the four victims of the Apalachee High School shooting–students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo; educators Cristina Irimie and Richard “Coach Ricky” Aspinwall

This is the third time since entering the U.S. Senate in 2021 that Senator Reverend Warnock has given floor remarks to address a deadly mass shooting in Georgia

Senator Reverend Warnock: “We don’t have to live this way. We don’t have to accept this as a fact of life”

ICYMI from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Raphael Warnock laments shooting at Apalachee High School

Watch Senator Reverend Warnock’s remarks HERE

Washington, D.C. – Yesterday, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) delivered remarks from the floor of the U.S. Senate to honor the four victims of the Apalachee High School shooting in Winder, Georgia—two students, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo; and two educators, Cristina Irimie and Richard “Coach Ricky” Aspinwall. This is the third time since entering the U.S. Senate in 2021 that Senator Warnock has given floor remarks to address a deadly mass shooting in Georgia.

“We don’t have to live this way. We don’t have to accept this as a fact of life. In the midst of all of this, we hear often the words, ‘We’re sending our thoughts and our prayers.’ Let me say, as a man of faith, that to say that you are praying while refusing to act is to make a mockery of faith,” said Senator Reverend Warnock. “We must pray with our lips, and we must pray by taking action. I do not believe that mass shootings as routine are the cost of freedom. I believe that it is the cost of blind obstinance.”

The Senator also lamented inaction on gun violence by the United States Congress, calling out Washington politicians cowering to their own political ambition or fears. Senator Warnock is calling for a serious, bipartisan conversation on Capitol Hill and a commitment to see through a renewed effort to protect innocent children and Americans from the scourge of gun violence.

Read the full transcript of Senator Reverend Warnock’s remarks below and watch HERE.

“Mr. President,

“I rise today carrying the grief of all Georgians after a school shooting in the small town of Winder, Georgia claimed the lives of two children and two educators just five days ago.

“Now, I’ve been in the United States Senate a little over three years, and I’ve stood here three times to lament yet another tragic mass shooting in my state alone that has taken innocent lives, and that is as unsurprising as it is tragic, since we endure, in this country, about two mass shootings a day.

“So here we are again. I stand here not just as a senator, but as the father of two young children. I can tell you that as a dad that time in the morning when you get your kids ready for school and you put them in the car and you drive them to school, that’s precious time. And all of us parents, when we drop our kids off, we drive them to school or walk them to school, or walk them to the school bus. We want to know that we’re going to pick them up just a few hours later. And it is a ritual played out in small towns and big cities all across America, and it’s something that we take for granted, but increasingly, in the United States of America, we cannot take for granted that when we drop our kids off in the morning that we will pick them up at three o’clock. And that is every parent’s nightmare, regardless of your politics.

“And only weeks into the new school year, this nightmare again became a reality in Georgia with four dead, others injured, and an entire community traumatized. Apalachee High School joins a grim and growing procession of schools where our children are dying from gun violence.

“We cannot easily pass this over. We must never forget their names – two dedicated educators, Cristina Irimie and Richard or “Coach Ricky”, as he was called Aspinwall. And then two young students, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo.

“On Friday night, this past Friday night, I went to Winder to join Apalachee students, families, and community members as they came together to mourn these precious souls. It was a Friday night in small-town Georgia, and the truth is we should have been there for a football game. How I remember those nights as a high school student. But instead of cheering on their classmates, they were mourning their classmates. One student came up with to me with pain in her eyes, and she said, ‘I don’t want to go back to school.’ And there were these girls, these 15-year-old girls who surrounded me because I spent some time there, and they began to talk to me. One of them talked about hearing the noise of someone banging on the door, of huddling and wondering what would come next.

“Coach Ricky, who was beloved, was also a math teacher and one of the girls said that ‘this was my math teacher.’ Imagine that you go to school one day, and the biggest thing you’re concerned about is understanding the math problem, and you come to school the next day, the next week, and your math teacher is dead, another victim of a mass shooting in your school. 

“I remember talking also to the family of Christian and the father shared with me that they had moved from California to a small town in Georgia looking for a quiet and peaceful life – sad irony, tragic irony.

“And one of my colleagues suggested over the weekend, one of my Senate colleagues, that this kind of violence is a fact of life, that’s what he said. He said it’s a fact of life. No, this is a fact of life in America. In no other country that is not at war is this kind of random violence routine. This is a tragic form of American exceptionalism, and as we wrestle with this trauma, I think that we are all called as a country, to ask ourselves, what trauma do we visit upon our children if we say that the only thing we can do for you in the midst of all of this is to teach you how to hide.

“That same colleague, by the way, suggested that what we ought to do is harden the schools, because these are soft targets. Well, apply that logic so we’re going to harden every school in America, harden every grocery store in America. What about the shopping malls? What about the spas? What about the medical clinics? What about the houses of worship? Is that an answer? Are we going to turn the whole country into a fort, just so 14-year-olds can have AR fifteens?

“I know that we may not all agree on what to do, but surely we can do better than that. We don’t have to live this way. We don’t have to accept this as a fact of life. And so in the midst of all of this, we hear often the words, you know, we’re sending our thoughts and our prayers. Let me say, as a man of faith, that to say that you are praying while refusing to act is to make a mockery of faith. We must pray with our lips, and we must pray by taking action.

“I do not believe that mass shootings as routine are the cost of freedom. I believe that it is the cost of blind obstinance. It is the cost of greed. And so we must start and see through a serious bipartisan conversation right here in Washington and in state capitals all over this country about how to better protect our children and communities across the country from the scourge of gun violence.

“I was proud that a few years ago, just a couple years ago, we did make progress right here in this chamber, and we passed common sense gun safety reforms in the wake of yet another tragic school shooting. And while that bill was modest, it was meaningful. We made progress, and right now, that law is saving lives, but as we were reminded just a few days ago, not enough, and so there’s still work for us to do.

“For me, this is not a political issue, it is a moral issue, and the glim of hope is that most American families feel the same way. According to a Fox News poll, about 87% of Americans believe that Congress ought to pass universal background checks. That’s Democrats and Republicans. 87% agreement, and still we can’t have a serious conversation about that here in this chamber. Why? Because politicians have put their own political ambitions, their own fears, in some cases, ahead of the people that we were sent here to represent, and it’s just another sign of the growing chasm between what the people want and what they can get out of their government. And in that sense, it’s a democracy problem.

“We have to save the American people from this carnage, and we have to redeem the democracy. We must do more and I believe in our ability to do more because I believe in the American people.

“The American people are calling for change, Democrats and Republicans, folks in rural spaces and in urban spaces. It’s the gun lobby that wants to turn this into a culture war, because they know that that’s in their best interest. This is a public safety issue, and the American people are calling out for action. They’re calling for sanity, and I believe it’s high time that we do that work.

“As I close, I just want to thank our law enforcement officers. I want to thank our first responders and our health care workers. And may we thank our educators, our teachers, our coaches, and may we remember the people of Winder and Apalachee High School and small towns all across our country, they all stood up the other day, shining bright in a dark moment, I pray for the day when I’ll be able to say the same thing about the United States Congress.

“It’s past time, and as dark as this moment is, may we be encouraged by the words of Scripture. ‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness overcome it not.’”

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