Image Source: Stefani Reynolds / AFP
Several U.S. authorities, including President Joe Biden, Vice-President Kamala Harris, and Sen. Chris Murphy, urged government members to focus on gun laws after the Texas shooting.
U.S. President Joe Biden said he would push for tighter gun controls following the shooting where a gunman opened fire in a Texas elementary school – at least 19 children and two teachers were killed.
Biden addressed the public after the incident and said, “We as a nation have to ask when in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby. When in God’s name do we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done?”
Texas state police reported the incident at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday morning. The suspected shooter was fatally wounded after the police responded to the crime scene. The shooter, identified as Salvador Ramos, 18, is now under police custody, awaiting decision.
“Tonight, I ask the nation to pray for them.”
President Biden
Biden cried foul over the U.S. gun industry, saying that there is slow progress on gun control in the U.S. Congress.
Vice President Kamala Harris also expressed her sympathies to the family of the victims and expressed that something needs to be done.
“As a nation, we have to have the courage to take action and understand the nexus between what makes for reasonable and sensible public policy to ensure something like this never happens again,” Harris said to the public. “I would normally say in a moment like this — we would all say naturally — that our hearts break. But our hearts keep getting broken.”
At the same time, Senator Chris Murphy, D-Conn, felt strongly and asked pertinent questions to other members of the Congress, “Why do you spend all this time running for the United States Senate, why do you go through all the hassle of getting this job, of putting yourself in position of authority if your answer as the slaughter increases, as our kids run for their lives, we do nothing?”
“I’m here on this floor to beg, to literally get down on my hands and knees and beg my colleagues,” Murphy added.
“Find a path forward here. Work with us to find a way to pass laws that make this less likely.”
Republican lawmakers, on the other hand, said that it was mental illness that pushed the 18-year-old shooter to commit the crime. And as such, the focus should be on addressing medical conditions in the country – to which Murphy did not agree.
“We have mass shooting after mass shooting and, you know, spare me the bullshit about mental illness,” Murphy told the press. “We don’t have any more mental illness than any other country in the world.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., also condemned the incident calling it a ‘cold-blooded massacre.’ She, too, expressed concern regarding the ruling laws limiting gun possession control in the country.
“It is time for all in Congress to heed the will of the American people and join in enacting the House-passed bipartisan, commonsense, life-saving legislation into law,” Pelosi said.
In a dissenting opinion, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said that gun laws should not be reformed as it is not effective and would not solve the problem.
However, Biden remained strong and said stricter gun policies should be lawmakers’ focus. “Our prayer tonight is those parents lying in bed trying to figure out, will I be able to sleep again? What do I say to my other children? What happens tomorrow?” the president asked the public.
Opinions expressed by NY Weekly contributors are their own.
