Schumer: Maybe this will be the moment for gun safety legislation

It's obvious why he would be horrified. Ten people died in Buffalo in a racist attack on May 14, leaving Schumer mourning with President Biden and other public figures at a memorial on Jefferson Avenue three days later.

Then, only a week after that, 19 fourth-graders and two teachers were shot to death in their Uvalde, Texas, classroom. Taking to the Senate floor the next day, Schumer said: "Last night I looked at the pictures of each of those kids online, and I wept."

It's hard to find hope in such tragedies, but Schumer, a New York Democrat, managed to do it. Consulting with the gun safety groups he's long worked with, they concluded together that maybe the twin terrors of Buffalo and Uvalde would move congressional Republicans to inch toward gun safety measures they have long opposed.

"There's a very strong consensus in the gun safety community that we've got to give this a chance," Schumer said in an interview on Friday. "Maybe, maybe, maybe this time we can get something done."

The first concrete signs of that possibility came clear late last week. At least two bipartisan working groups emerged in the Senate to try to hammer out compromises that Republicans – long opposed to any gun control measures – would accept.

Then, Rep. Chris Jacobs of Orchard Park stepped farther out of the party line than any other Republican in Congress, endorsing an assault weapons ban and several other gun safety measures.

"Chris Jacobs is showing that people are feeling the heat," Schumer said. "Republicans are feeling the heat."

In that environment, Schumer is giving those bipartisan working groups some time – although he won't say how long – to hammer out a deal.

Asked what kind of deal he would like to see, Schumer said he wants a measure mandating more comprehensive background checks for gun buyers. People who currently buy weapons at gun dealers have to undergo a background check, but those who buy them at gun shows or online don't, and Schumer has long pressed to close those loopholes.

In addition, Schumer said he'd like to see a federal "red flag" law that would allow authorities to take guns away from people deemed to be posing a threat to themselves or others.

And while he would prefer an assault weapons ban – which few Republicans other than Jacobs favor – Schumer said a good compromise would be a federal law limiting the purchase of semiautomatic weapons to people over the age of 21.

"The fact is that what happened in Buffalo and in Uvalde – where 18-year-olds, almost the minute they turned 18, bought AR-15s – just cries out for legislation," Schumer said.

Of course, comments like that are nothing new coming from Schumer. He's been fighting for stricter gun safety measures since early in his congressional career. And while serving in the House in the early 1990s, he won twin victories: the "Brady Bill," which mandated background checks on firearms purchasers, and an assault weapons ban.

But Republicans took control of Congress in the election after those two measures passed, fueled in part by the anger of gun owners who flocked to the polls to back the GOP. Congressional Republicans let that assault weapons ban expire after a decade, and ever since, the GOP has drawn an increasingly hard line on gun safety issues.

Since the back-to-back massacres of recent weeks, most Republicans in Congress have either maintained a silence or urged stronger security measures at the nation's schools as a substitute for stronger gun safety legislation.

Still, Schumer sees signs of change. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told CNN on Thursday that he had authorized Sen. John Cornyn of Texas to work with Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona – both Democrats – to see if a compromise can be struck in response to the recent shootings.

"I met with Senator Cornyn this morning," McConnell said on Thursday. "As you know he went home yesterday to see the family members and begin the fact finding of this awful massacre and I have encouraged him to talk with Senator Murphy and Senator Sinema and others who are interested in trying to get an outcome that is directly related to the problem. I am hopeful that we could come up with a bipartisan solution."

If senators can't do that within a reasonable amount of time – Schumer won't say exactly how long – he said he plans to bring to the Senate floor legislation already passed by the House that would strengthen the background check system for gun purchases.

While pressing for legislation, Schumer has also been tending to matters back home. He keeps mentioning "the beloved City of Buffalo" in his remarks on the shootings, and he returned to the city unannounced – which is uncharacteristic for Schumer – on May 22 for a "day of service" in which he handed out meals to people on the East Side. Later that same day, Schumer attended a birthday party for Zaire Everhart, who was wounded in the shooting.

Schumer may be doing such things all around the state this week, since the Senate is out of session. But he said he's hoping the Senate can return to the hard business of addressing gun safety issues when it returns the following week.

The sheer horror of one mass shooting after another – many targeting individuals based on their race or their faith – may finally lead to action, he said. At the very least, he said, Congress is confronting gun safety issues in a way it hasn't since 2013, after a 21-year-old with an assault weapon killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

"Sandy Hook was not enough to shake Republicans out of their paralysis," Schumer said three days after the Uvalde massacre. "Maybe this will be."