Sen. Durbin on gun violence legislation: ‘I sense a change in the conversation’

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Friday in the wake of mass shootings in Buffalo and Texas that newly launched bipartisan negotiations with Sen. John Cornyn, D-Tx., might lead to legislation addressing gun violence.

“I sense a change in the conversation,” Durbin said at a press conference in Chicago.

On Thursday, Cornyn was authorized by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to open talks with Democrats to “negotiate the possibility of gun legislation that will spare us the tragedies we’ve seen,” Durbin said.

Cornyn, who traveled to Uvalde, Texas, after this week’s shooting, spoke about being there on the Senate floor. “It affected him personally,” Durbin said, adding that while he’s a patient and optimistic person, his “patience is running out. It’s time for us to do something.”

An 18-year-old man killed 19 students and two teachers Tuesday at an elementary school in Uvalde, and on May 14, in Buffalo, New York, another 18-year-old male slaughtered 10 people, all Black, in a grocery store, with authorities calling it a racially motivated crime.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Durbin was joined by Thomas Stanley, president and CEO of Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital, as well as Chicago youth leaders.

Durbin’s office announced Friday the Senate Judiciary Committee, which Durbin chairs, will hold a hearing June 15 to discuss gun violence and how it impacts children.