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Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) released the following statement after a violent Fourth of July weekend in New York City left over a dozen people shot, including several children and one NYPD detective:

“This weekend, a family barbecue in Coney Island turned into a crime scene. Eight people were shot, four of them children as young as six. Hours later, one of our own detectives took a bullet doing his job to keep New Yorkers safe. More than a dozen people shot in two days, in a city that had just posted a record low for gun violence this year. That is not progress we can afford to lose, and it is exactly the moment the federal government should be doing more to keep guns out of the wrong hands – not less.

“Instead, the Trump administration has spent the past year and a half dismantling the very safeguards that make moments like this rarer. They’ve gutted the ATF’s ability to shut down dealers who repeatedly break the law. They’re restoring gun access to people flagged for serious mental illness. They’re rolling back scrutiny of dangerous accessories like stabilizing braces. And they are actively suing states to strike down limits on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. All of these actions defy common sense and make our communities less safe. 

“New Yorkers just watched what happens when a gun ends up in the wrong hands on a summer night. The Trump administration’s answer is to make that easier, not harder. I will keep fighting in the Senate for the background checks, dealer accountability, and commonsense restrictions this administration is determined to tear down. The safety of our kids, our families, and our police officers should never be a partisan afterthought.”