New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) said on Sunday the Buffalo mass shooting that was carried out by a self-proclaimed white supremacist means the U.S. should no longer protect hate speech. The shooter filmed himself shooting random grocery store shoppers in a minority neighborhood.
Prior to the shooting, the attacker posted a lengthy manifesto explaining his views and why he wanted to kill non-white people. During the shooting, he did appear to spare the life of one man because the man looked white.
NBC News' Chuck Todd tried to tie the motivation behind the shooting to "TV commentators" trying to "appease this right-wing extremism" despite the shooter describing himself as being closer to the left on the political spectrum.
"So let's just be real honest about the role of elected leaders. And what they need to be doing is calling this out and not coddling this behavior and saying that, 'Well, that's just young people and they're sharing their ideas.' Yeah, I'll protect the First Amendment any day of the week. But you don't protect hate speech," said Hochul. "You don't protect incendiary speech. You're not allowed to scream 'fire' in a crowded theater. There are limitations on speech. And right now, we have seen this run rampant. And as a result, I have ten dead neighbors in this community. And it hurts. And we're going to do something about it."
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I stand united with 20 million New Yorkers when I say: White supremacist violence and terrorism has no place in Buffalo and no place in New York State. We will continue working to combat hate wherever it rears its ugly head. pic.twitter.com/OpqLrZTny3
— Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) May 15, 2022
Earlier in the show, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown also called for the end of hate speech "on the internet and social media, to stop the proliferation of hateful ideology."
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