Leader Schumer Floor Remarks Condemning Islamophobia In Wake Of San Diego Mosque Shooting

Washington, D.C. - Today, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) spoke on the Senate floor condemning Islamophobia and hate crimes in the wake of yesterday's mass shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego. Below are Senator Schumer's remarks, which can also be viewed here:

I speak for the entire Senate when I say that we are praying for the families of the victims of yesterday's heinous mass shooting which killed three people at the Islamic Center of San Diego - the city's largest mosque.

One of the victims was a security guard and father of eight - Amin Abdullah - who was killed while preventing the gunmen from entering the building.

His heroic actions surely saved many lives, and we will always owe him and his family a debt of gratitude.

In recent years, mosques, synagogues, churches, and other places of worship have increasingly become targets of discriminatory attacks.

We each have a responsibility to condemn the type of Islamophobia we saw in San Diego yesterday, just as we have a duty to stamp out all forms of prejudice and bigotry in our society.

No one - no one - in America should have to live in fear of hate crimes or gun violence, but so many do - and that is so so wrong. Many of us live in fear in our places of worship, in our streets, in the grocery aisle, and we must stop this.

Congress needs to come together to combat hate and to pass commonsense gun reforms to prevent violent individuals from acting on that hate with such deadly efficiency.

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