[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 211 (Monday, December 15, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8700-S8701]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     SHOOTING AT BROWN UNIVERSITY AND SHOOTING IN SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, we convene after a weekend of both horror 
and grief. Saturday afternoon, as students were studying for finals, a 
masked gunman opened fire inside a classroom at Brown University. Nine 
students were injured, and two were killed. The victims were not even 
20 years old. This is every father's and every mother's worst 
nightmare. For now, the shooter remains at large, and we urge residents 
in the area to listen

[[Page S8701]]

to guidance from local law enforcement.
  Then, just a few hours later, on the first night of Hanukkah, on a 
popular beach in Sydney, Australia, two terrorists opened fire on 
Jewish Australians who gathered in celebration. At least 15 were 
killed, another 29 injured. Among the murdered was a 10-year-old girl 
and an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor. Also among the murdered was 
Rabbi Eli Schlanger--a pillar of Brooklyn's Crown Heights community--
who welcomed a son into the world just 2 months ago.
  May the memories of all those killed and injured this weekend be a 
blessing.
  I have warned repeatedly that anti-Semitism is a scourge around the 
world that must be condemned loudly and fought vigorously at every 
turn. The Jewish people have been collectively demonized, increasingly 
so in the last few years. This tragedy in Sydney shows the danger--the 
abject danger--of letting anti-Semitic rhetoric and action go 
unchecked.
  So those of us in elected office have a responsibility to speak out 
against anti-Semitic rhetoric and conduct wherever it arises and 
whenever it arises.
  Separately, Congress must also take action against another poison of 
our age, that of rampant gun violence.
  Australia is no stranger to gun safety legislation. They famously 
took strong action in the 1990s, so gun violence plummeted. Yesterday, 
Australia's Prime Minister said the country will take another look at 
their gun safety laws and see where they can make improvements. If 
Australia can find the courage to act after a tragedy like the one at 
Bondi Beach, Congress should certainly find the will to act after a 
tragedy like the one at Brown University.
  For the sake of those who were killed this weekend and for the sake 
of so many lives we can save moving forward, Congress must again act 
against gun violence and act against all forms of violent hate.

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