Hoyer: Let Us Remember the Lives Lost at Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church, Honor Their Memories By Working to Prevent Further Bloodshed

WASHINGTON, DC - House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) released the following statement today on the one-year anniversary of the shooting at the Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, South Carolina:

"As we mark the one-year anniversary of the deadly shooting at the Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, let us remember those who lost their lives and honor their memories by working as hard as we can to prevent further bloodshed.  I was honored to participate in a pilgrimage earlier this year with my friend Rep. John Lewis to the Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church to pay tribute to Rev. Pinckney and those who perished alongside him.  Bound in life by their faith and their love of community, now they are joined eternally in our hearts.  May their strength and the strength of their loved ones empower us to stand up and take action to end the scourge of racism and to keep dangerous firearms out of the hands of those who cannot be trusted with them.  I will continue to work with my Democratic colleagues to push for commonsense measures to prevent gun violence so that what happened in Charleston - and Sandy Hook, Aurora, Orlando, and too many other places - does not happen again."