Assemblyman Avi Schnall released the following statement on Thursday morning, following the antisemitic shooting attack that killed two in Washington, DC, last night:
I am heartbroken and horrified by the cold-blooded murder of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim outside the Capital Jewish Museum in our nation’s capital—a brazen act of antisemitic terror carried out by a radical anti-Israel extremist. This was not a random act of violence. It was not spontaneous. It was the inevitable result of 1.5 years of escalating hatred and incitement that too many in power have tolerated—or worse, encouraged.
Since the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023, we’ve witnessed a disgraceful surge in anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric across this country. What began as campus protests and public chants of glorified terror has metastasized into violent assaults, threats, and now murder. Throughout this time, far too many elected officials, media figures, and community leaders chose to stay silent—or to openly embrace the language of demonization and delegitimization of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Let’s be clear: you cannot spend months validating hatred and then feign surprise when that hatred turns deadly. Spare us the performative statements of sorrow. If you gave cover to the hatred that led to this bloodshed—whether through your words or your silence—you are not part of the solution. You are part of the problem.
There is a price to moral cowardice. We saw it in blood last night.
This is why we need either open carry or CCW with the process to approval is speeded up and the cost is lowered. We need our 2nd amendment rights to bear arms and the government has no interference.
Would this case have been different?