Washington—Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) released the following statement on the shootings in Georgia that killed eight people:

“Yesterday’s shootings in Georgia were a sad reminder that gun violence continues to plague our country. While the shooter is claiming that race didn’t play a role in the shooting, there are still real concerns that these were hate crimes.

“Eight people were killed, six of whom were of Asian descent. That, combined with a spike in hate crimes against Asian Americans, suggest that racism may have factored into the shooter’s motives. All of us must condemn hate wherever it’s found.

“There have been 3,800 reports of hate incidents targeting Asian Americans in the last year, according to Stop AAPI Hate. Similarly, the FBI has recorded the most hate-related killings since it began collecting data in the 1990s.

“All the while, gun sales have spiked during the pandemic, with approximately 2 million guns being purchased last March, the second-most in a single month.

“What happened yesterday is another sad example of the violence that we will continue to see in this country as long as deadly firearms are so easily obtained by anyone who wants them.”