The best of our community was killed on Saturday in Buffalo. 

They were police officers, church deacons, members of the choir, caregivers, mothers, grandparents and a father who was buying a birthday cake for his son.

“I met that 3-year-old boy today whose dad went to the grocery store to buy the cake for his birthday. I met that 3-year-old boy’s entire family. I can tell you, it’s raw. And people are angry,” U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand told Capital Tonight.

In speaking with the families of Saturday’s mass killing, Gillibrand acknowledged that they want justice. They also want to know why racism continues to thrive, how white supremacists can continue to wreak havoc in communities like theirs and what elected leaders are going to do about it. 

She admitted that until the Democrats have 60 votes in the Senate, gun control is going to be an uphill battle.

“The Republican Party and Mitch McConnell stand in the way of getting common sense, bipartisan gun reform done,” she said. “My bill to stop gun trafficking, the last time it got voted on right after Sandy Hook got 58 votes. Our background check bill at the time got about 54 votes. We did not have enough Republican support for both bills.”

She continued.

“No military-style weapon should be publicly available for purchase. Period.”

Additionally, Gillibrand told Capital Tonight that she is the author of legislation to create a new independent agency to regulate the internet — a data protection agency.

“Americans have a right to free speech, but as one academician said, they don’t have a right to free reach, and unlimited reach.  That’s what these social media platforms provide,” she said. “They allow people to amplify their message far and wide. They allow an individual to go down a rabbit hole where a social media company is actually monetizing the ability of this individual to become more and more radicalized.”

Gillibrand said she is talking with several Republicans to create the new agency.