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Racially motivated massacre in Buffalo sends shockwaves across nation
The white 18-year-old who shot and killed 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket had researched the local demographics while looking for places with a high concentration of Black residents, arriving there at least a day in advance to conduct reconnaissance, law enforcement officials said Sunday.
Authorities said evidence shows a mass shooting at a Buffalo supermarket was a hate crime. The Department of Justice is calling it, "an act of racially-motivate violent extremism."
"We must not live in fear, but we must be very careful," said Reverend Amos C. Brown, the President of San Francisco’s NAACP and Pastor of the historic Third Baptist Church.
He said he spoke with the NAACP’s national president after hearing about the shooting, and the motivation behind it.
The 18-year-old white gunman targeted mostly black shoppers. Police say he traveled to the area to carry out this attack.
"Until good people speak up, speak out, connect with each other and take a stand, this will be the staple of this nation," said Brown.
"It’s always very depressing news to see this problem is continuing and worsening even," said John Donohue, a Stanford Law professor. He called gun control a contentious issue in both the courts and the public.
He said reinstating a ban, like the federal assault weapons ban that expired in 2004, could make a difference today.
"It would make a difference. The problem is we are in so much of a worse position today because the ban was able to lapse in 2004. So literally millions of additional assault weapons have been bought and sold," said Donohue.