Sunday 15 May 2022 03:16 PM Buffalo Mayor says Tops shooting is 'a turning point' as NY Gov. doubles down ... trends now

Mayor Byron Brown said Sunday that the shooting in his town of Buffalo, New York Saturday that left 10 people dead could be the final 'turning point' for gun legislation in the U.S. as the state's Governor Kathy Hochul doubles down on pointing blame at social media companies.

'I would like to see sensible gun control,' Brown told NBC's Meet the Press host Chuck Todd on Sunday morning, adding that 'hate speech' is not 'Free Speech.'

'I believe what happened in Buffalo, New York yesterday is going to be a turning point,' the mayor said. 'I think it's going to be different after this in terms of the energy and the activity that we see.'

Governor Hochul also spoke with NBC on Sunday morning where she again levied blame on the streaming site Twitch for being an accomplice in the massacre.

'How long was it [the Buffalo shooting] livestreamed before someone paid attention?' Hochul questioned to anchor Todd. 'These [social media] companies make a lot of money, they're very profitable. And In my judgment they have the opportunity to be doing far more monitoring and shut things down before it gets to this situation.'

Payton Gendron, 18, livestreamed his racially motivated mass shooting on Twitch, which is primarily used by video gamers to stream their virtual adventures.

Hochul praised her state on Sunday for having some of the most strict gun control laws in the nation, but insisted more needs to be done to restrict Americans' Second Amendment rights.

'It's about access to guns,' Hochul told NBC. 'And in New York we have the toughest gun laws in the nation. But right now we have a case before the Supreme Court that could be decided in a matter of weeks that could allow people to have a gun that's concealed – to walk into the Tops behind me with a concealed weapon this time.'

'So we've got to deal with that access to guns.'

Brown also discussed on Sunday the role of social media in the massacre, claiming that there needs to be 'deliberate' action on gun control as well as ending hate speech online.

'I would like to see ending hate speech on the internet – on social media,' the mayor said. 'It is not free speech, it is not the American way. We are not a nation of hate. We need to send a message that there is no space on the internet for hate speech, for hate indoctrination, for spreading hate manifesto.'

'So I'd like to see real, deliberate action on gun control and ending hate speech on the internet,' Brown said.

'I will be a strong voice for that. I've heard from mayors all over the country in the aftermath of this incident.'

He also spoke with CBS Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan on Sunday and demanded federal resources to assist Buffalo in recovery from the incident.