Pelosi says Senate remains hurdle in passing gun bill after Buffalo shooting

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Sunday said the Senate remains a hurdle in passing gun legislation after a gunman opened fire in New York one day earlier, killing 10 people and injuring three others.

Asked by co-anchor Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union” if she, President Biden and other Democrats should make gun measures a bigger priority, Pelosi said “it is a huge priority for us, and it has been a huge priority for Joe Biden.”

“But the fact is the 60-vote majority in the Senate is an obstacle to doing any, many good things, unfortunately, and again, we are not going away until the job is done,” Pelosi said.

“We’ve said it over and over again to the families of Newtown, the Florida families, the Pulse families. It’s not just though, the main of, you know, these mass murders which are horrible, they’re high-profile. It’s what happens every single night across the country, in our cities and other places in our country,” she added.

A gunman shot 13 people at a Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo, New York on Sunday. Eleven of the victims were Black. The attack is being investigated as a hate crime.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) told CNN on Sunday that the gun used in the incident, an AR-15, was purchased legally at a gun store in the state. She noted, however, that the high-capacity magazine had to have been purchased in a different state.

The House has passed a number of gun-related bills in past months, but none have gained steam in the Senate because of staunch Republican opposition.

“So this is about safety, and safety is what we’ve taken oath to protect and defend the Constitution, inference to be drawn is the safety also of the American people,” Pelosi added on Sunday.