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Mayor Brown to visit White House for gun reform law ceremony

Mayor Byron Brown will be joined at the White House by Jerome Bridges, who is credited with helping several people hide in a conference room inside Tops.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown will be in Washington on Monday to celebrate President Biden's signing of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.

The new law represents the first major federal gun safety law in almost 26 years. It requires an enhanced background checks for people who buy guns under the age of 21.

It also provides federal funding for state red flag laws, attempts to disarm domestic abusers, and will help fund mental health and community violence intervention programs.

“The signing of Bipartisan Safer Communities Act is a milestone in our country’s efforts to enact common sense gun violence solutions," Brown said Sunday.

"In the wake of the Jefferson Avenue Tops Market mass shooting, which took the lives of 10 innocent residents, injured three others, and traumatized the East Buffalo community, this bill signing takes on an even greater significance for my Administration and the City of Buffalo."

The mayor held a news conference on Sunday at Niagara Square, during the Taste of Buffalo, before leaving for the nation's capitol.

Brown will be joined at the White House by Jerome Bridges, who is credited with helping several people hide in a conference room inside the Jefferson Avenue Tops store until after the gunman was arrested.

Brown gave Bridges a gold pin to wear during the trip.

This will not be Brown's only visit to Washington this month. He will return to testify before Congress about the economic impact the Tops mass shooting has had on the Buffalo community.

"This is not just a New York problem," Brown said. "This is a national problem, and we need uniform gun reform legislation that covers the entire nation, because often we see here in Buffalo, Rochester, New York City guns coming from other places in the country into our community used to hurt New Yorkers."

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