Today marks the 30th anniversary of a mass shooting that took place aboard a Long Island Rail Road train pulling into Merillon Avenue station in Garden City.
During rush hour on Dec. 7, 1993, Colin Ferguson boarded the train at Penn Station and opened fire on more than 80 other passengers aboard the train. Six people were killed and 19 more were injured before several passengers managed to restrain Ferguson.
To honor the victims of the shooting, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer led a moment of silence on the Senate floor.
"I remember the reports well," Schumer said.
"The 5:33 p.m. rush hour train from Penn Station filled with commuters. Average working Americans going home after a hard day's work to see their families. Moments later, a gunman unleashed carnage, six dead 19 injured, many more lives shattered, changed forever," he added.
Schumer later recalled the story of of his retired colleague Carolyn McCarthy, whose husband and son were both victims of the shooting and who later went on to become a U.S. congresswoman.
“So after Carolyn's congressman at the time announced he would be voting to repeal the assault weapons ban that I had championed, I carried the law in the House," Schumer said. "She took matters into her own hands and ran for a seat in the House and won on that issue. She served in Congress for 18 years with me and many of my colleagues in this building and remained a vocal advocate for stronger gun safety laws.”
Earlier this week, Schumer spoke on the Senate floor after Republicans blocked a unanimous consent request to pass an assault weapons ban in the Senate.
He stated that he will continue to work to fight the national crisis of gun violence in America.
