Texas school shooting: Biden calls for ‘turning pain into action’ on gun laws after 21 killed – latest updates
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Lawmakers respond to Texas shooting
As the nation reels from yet another mass shooting on US soil, current and former lawmakers are weighing in with thoughts, prayers and calls for action.
US Republican senator John Cornyn of Texas said in a statement he is in touch with local officials in Uvalde and will continue to monitor the situation.
The shooting at Robb elementary school in Uvalde is every parent and teacher’s worst nightmare. No parent, child, or teacher should ever have to wonder whether it’s safe to go to school.
California governor Gavin Newsom said his own state is an example of the effectiveness of gun control laws.
Commonsense gun safety laws work. In CA, we have cut our gun death rate in half since the 1980’s. We won’t solve this overnight – but let’s stop pretending that these mass shootings are an inevitable horror we have to experience on a regular basis.
Former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, who herself was a victim of a mass shooting in 2011, said she is “horrified” at inaction surrounding gun violence in the US.
How many more children will be killed by guns? How many young lives cut short, families shattered, communities traumatized because our leaders refuse to act on gun violence? Gun violence is a uniquely American problem – and it is now the leading cause of death for American children. I’m devastated that more precious young people have lost their lives in a horrific mass shooting today. I won’t rest until children can go to school without fearing for their lives. Our elected leaders must have the same resolve. Enough is enough.
Former congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell of Florida said the shooting shows how little has changed since the Majory Stoneman Douglas high school attack in her home state in 2018.
Today, our nation witnessed yet another school shooting, the deadliest school shooting since the 2018 tragedy near my home at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school. Tragically, little has changed since then. Our elected leaders have been more interested in listening to the gun lobby than protecting our children – and until that changes, we will continue to see devastating incident after devastating incident. Without real action, our country will more closely resemble the violence I left behind in Ecuador than the safe haven I sought in the United States.
US house of representatives majority leader Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland called for the passage of bills being blocked by Republicans that would “our schools, houses of worship, malls, entertainment venues, and streets safer from deadly gun violence”.
How many more times must Americans watch innocent children die in mass shootings at elementary schools before we decide as a nation to do something about gun safety? How many more times will we send our thoughts and prayers to parents burying their small children? How many more times will Senate Republicans express outrage at horrific shootings like the one today in Uvalde, Texas and then block meaningful, bipartisan background-check legislation supported by nine out of ten Americans and most responsible gun owners? How many more times?
The House has passed HR 8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act, along with Whip Clyburn’s legislation to close the Charleston Loophole and other bills aimed at making our schools, houses of worship, malls, entertainment venues, and streets safer from deadly gun violence.
Senate Republicans continue to block them, even though they have overwhelming support from the American people, who are sick and tired of turning on the news to see images like those we see today of ambulances where there ought to be school buses and tearful first responders where there ought to be beaming teachers. These images are indefensible, as is the news of everyday violence from firearms in communities across America that do not make national headlines.
I will be keeping the families who lost a child in my heart today, as I will the law enforcement and other first responders who have had to answer this difficult call. How many more of them will there be? How many more times must our nation be thrown into such shock and grief?
