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Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul was a guest on CNN’s “Inside Politics” with guest host Manu Raju. The Governor called on Republicans in Congress to take action and enact a national assault weapons ban in the wake of Monday evening's tragic Midtown Manhattan shooting.

AUDIO: The Governor’s remarks are available in audio form here.

A rush transcript of the Governor’s remarks is available below:

Manu Raju, CNN:  Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul joins us now live. Governor Hochul, thank you so much for joining us during this tragic moment for your state and for your city. There are so many unanswered questions about this tragic shooting, one of which is the motive of the shooter. Mayor Adams said this morning, there's reason to believe he was focused on the NFL, so I'm wondering what have you learned about why he seemed so intent to carry out this massacre, particularly on the NFL?

Governor Hochul: Well, first of all, let me just say this: our city and our state are grieving right now for the loss of innocent lives of people just doing their jobs — particularly a police officer who always takes risks every day, but certainly his wife and two little kids expected to see Officer Islam come home at the end of the day and to the others who lost their lives.

I'm sitting in Midtown right now — my office is just a few blocks away — and walking in this morning, and you see the security guards down there and everyone is just wondering, “Is this a one-off? Could this happen again?” I mean that sense of security is shattered when someone comes from another state carrying an assault weapon designed only for battlefields, but intending to use that to commit mayhem and mass murder in our city.

So the motivation has to be investigated, but there seems to be a linkage based on his own note at the end that has been revealed by the police department about the NFL. Someone who played high school sports and believes that that resulted in CTE, which is a brain injury — it's hard to know.

I just spoke to the Commissioner of the NFL to express our condolences and everyone's in shock. I mean, this is a terrifying event to unfold in our populated city or actually anywhere. But again, let's talk about how this happened. This is happening because there are still assault weapons in our country.

Manu Raju, CNN: Yeah and that was part of my question to you, Governor. What do we know about the — this was an M4 rifle, that's what the police say — what do we know about how he obtained this weapon?

Governor Hochul: Well, we're still determining that. We don't know whether there was another individual involved, but, again, this goes to the difference between state laws related to gun ownership. In the State of New York you cannot buy one of these. You have to be over age 18 — you cannot have access. I mean he had a concealed carry permit which allowed him to have this weapon — much looser laws in the State of Nevada than we have here.

And so our argument is this: if every state had the same laws uniformly. You could not have a situation. We fight really hard in the State of New York to make sure that we have the toughest gun laws in the nation. We have the lowest of all the large states' homicide rate by guns. New York State has the lowest homicide rate by guns in the nation for large states and that's because of laws that are working, and we want that same sense of urgency to go out across the nation.

States like Nevada — every state should do this because right now, we've been waiting for the federal government, for Congress to step up, and the Republicans in Congress are so intimidated by the gun lobby or they might have a primary if they dare stand up and stand, “I'm for common sense gun safety laws.”

So you can't say you're tough on crime and be soft on guns or weak on guns — it's just not holding up. So we need a national awakening here, people need to be talked about this once again and it shouldn't just happen in the wake of a tragedy like this; it should be an ongoing conversation where we force the Republicans to understand lives could be saved if we only do what's smart and common sense.

We had an assault ban weapon in our country for 10 years. It worked successfully. It lapped under President Bush, and I say bring that back.

Manu Raju, CNN: But Governor, even when Joe Biden was president and Democrats controlled Congress, your party did not pass a ban on semi-automatic rifles, even in the wake of really horrific mass shootings like this one. So, what makes you think that anything would be different now and you fault your own party for not acting on this when you were in charge?

Governor Hochul: I am looking for political courage. I'm looking for people to stand up for the people of this nation and say, “Enough is enough.” How much more slaughter do we have to endure because of these assault weapons? We had this happen in my hometown of Buffalo in 2022. You remember 10 people shopping at a Tops grocery store in a Black part of our city.

This individual targeted them, a white supremacist, because of the color of their skin. They were slaughtered, gunned down with the same kind of weapon. We sprung into action. We made sure that our laws were tougher and tighter, and we're doing much more to keep people safe in the State of New York.

But I don't want to be having my residents affected by someone coming from another state who could easily get their hands on this assault weapon, travel across multiple states and do what they did just yesterday. So I want to be able to protect New Yorkers, it's my number one priority, and it's hard to do it when other states aren't stepping up — and certainly Congress has let us down.

Manu Raju, CNN: And Governor, people who would oppose a national ban on semi-automatic weapons — which you're calling for now — would say that there needs to be amped up security, physical security in some of these buildings. Hearing what happened yesterday, from what you know, was there sufficient security inside that building?

Governor Hochul: There was very much security in that building. To have a company hire an off-duty police officer — I don't know how you get more secure than that. And all the systems they had in place and the training they had in place. I'm still learning more about what those systems were. I've been in that building and it takes an awful lot to be able to get upstairs.

But how you stop someone who walks in intent on murdering the first person they encounter, who's a police officer, and trying to stop them? That's almost impossible. So people who are blaming the security system are looking at the wrong culprit here. Look at the weapon of mass destruction that was used to destroy lives in my city — that's what we have to go after.

Manu Raju, CNN: Governor, the shooting comes as you're facing your own tough reelection campaign and Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik — who could challenge you in that race — posted to X overnight saying, “We cannot allow radical, anti-police, dangerous policies to continue.”

And then she went on to attack the New York mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani saying, “Flashback: Kathy Hochul’s very own Commie Mamdani. A disgrace and truly unfit to be Mayor of New York City.” The June 2020 post from Mamdani calling to “defund the police.” What do you say to Congresswoman Stefanik?

Governor Hochul: That's about as pathetic as it gets. I mean, seriously. Going after an unelected official who said something back in 2020 when many people were — I mean, come on, give me a break. I mean, ask her the question, “What are you doing to make your constituents safe? You don't mind taking away their health care; you don't mind education cuts; you don't mind nutrition cuts; you don't mind hurting your farmers. Why don't you have some spine and stand up for the people who put you in your spot?”

And so that's what I'm looking for, people to not be deflecting. Stand up to the gun lobby and show that you have the courage to do something that's actually pretty useful, instead of just complaining about tweets.

I don't talk about tweets, I don't do tweets on this. I govern. I know what I'm doing and we have the toughest gun laws in the nation. And, as I said, we are number one of the large states for gun safety. That's what my job is — the Governor is supposed to save her constituents and I'm doing that every day with these tough laws, and I'm going to continue.

One murder, one slaughter of an individual is too many, but we're at it — $2.6 billion. Talk about funding police? No Governor in the history of New York has invested more money and resources for our local law enforcement to stop crimes, and our crime rates are dropping dramatically; $2.6 billion, that's what I call funding the police. So, stop deflecting.

Manu Raju, CNN: So she was quoting Zohran Mamdani. Just to be clear to our audience here, are you endorsing him in the race for mayor?

Governor Hochul: No. And listen, why are we talking about this today? There are families that are grieving. I'm sorry, we're not talking politics — this is not the time and place for it. It's about action and showing compassion and empathy for people's lives that are forever destroyed. And a new baby on the way who's never going to know the baby's father? I mean, this is what I'm thinking about today, not politics.

Manu Raju, CNN: Have you spoken to the families of the victims from this massacre last night, Governor?

Governor Hochul: That's being set up, yes. We'll be doing that and I'll be visiting the precinct as soon as it reopens — it's closed today so people can mourn. So I'll be certainly involved. I believe there's a vigil tonight I'll be participating in.

Our state is wounded right now. We're hurting. We'll fly flags at half staff and we'll give thoughts and prayers and condolences as is customary, but I want more than that. I want action. I want Congress to step up and use this example of how this weapon of mass destruction destroyed the life of young families and it's time to act. Really, it's time to act.

Manu Raju, CNN: The president said he has been briefed on this. Have you heard from the president at all?

Governor Hochul: The White House contacted us yesterday. I have not spoken to him directly.

Manu Raju, CNN: Okay. All right. Well, I'll leave it there. Governor Hochul, we really appreciate you coming on and our condolences to your state and after this very, very tragic shooting, and we wish everyone some peace in this very difficult moment. Thank you for joining us and we'll be right back.