Washington, May 25 (FN Agency) US President Biden expressed anger, disappointment and pain over the Texas elementary school shooting that killed at least 18 children, Al Jazeera reported on Wednesday. President Biden called for new restrictions on firearms after a gunman massacred 18 children at a Texas elementary school. “We have to act,” Biden said, asking “When in gods name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby”. US has failed to pass a comprehensive new gun laws even after repeated incidents of gun violence. The president said, “It’s time we turned this pain into action,” adding “To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away. There’s a hollowness in your chest. You feel like you’re being sucked into it and never going to be able to get out.”
Vice-President Kamala Harris said, “Enough is enough. As a nation, we must have the courage to take action and prevent this from ever happening again. It is long past time for our country to stand up to the gun lobby and pass reasonable gun safety laws. As a nation, we must have the courage to take action and prevent this from ever happening again”. Harris further said, “To the people of Uvalde: Please know that we grieve with you. We are praying for you. And we stand with you. Tonight in Uvalde, Texas, there are parents who lost children. Families who have lost loved ones. And many who have been injured”.
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi said, “Words are inadequate to describe the agony & outrage at the cold-blooded massacre of little schoolchildren & a teacher at Robb Elementary School today. The hearts of all Americans are broken as we pray for the families left forever shattered & a community left forever scarred”. She further said, “This shooting stole the futures of children, who won’t experience joys of graduating from school, chasing a career, falling in love, even starting a family of their own. We hold close all who have lost a loved one to gun violence, as this horrible crime deepens their suffering”.
“We are united in our deep gratitude for the heroes who put their lives on the line to respond to this deadly mass shooting” Pelosi said. “For too long, some in Congress have offered hollow words after shootings while opposing all efforts to save lives. It is time for all in Congress to heed the will of the American people & join in enacting the House-passed bipartisan, commonsense, life-saving legislation into law” she added. A furious Sen. Chris Murphy from Texas, demanded answers from senators following Texas school shooting.
“Why are you here?!” he said. “Why do you spend all this time running for the United States Senate…if your answer, is as the slaughter increases, as our kids run for their lives—we do nothing? This only happens in this country and nowhere else. Nowhere else do little kids go to school thinking that they might be shot that day.” Taking to Twitter, First Lady Jill Biden said, “Lord, enough. Little children and their teacher. Stunned. Angry. Heartbroken.” Former president Barack Obama said, “Across the country, parents are putting their children to bed, reading stories, singing lullabies—and in the back of their minds, they’re worried about what might happen tomorrow after they drop their kids off at school, or take them to a grocery store or any other public space”.
“Michelle and I grieve with the families in Uvalde, who are experiencing pain no one should have to bear” he said. “We’re also angry for them. Nearly ten years after Sandy Hook—and ten days after Buffalo—our country is paralyzed, not by fear, but by a gun lobby and a political party that have shown no willingness to act in any way that might help prevent these tragedies” Obama said. “It’s long past time for action, any kind of action. And it’s another tragedy—a quieter but no less tragic one—for families to wait another day. May God bless the memory of the victims, and in the words of Scripture, heal the brokenhearted and bind up their wounds” he added. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said, “Guns are the leading cause of death for kids in the US. The shooting in Buffalo was the worst this year for less than two weeks. This is not rare”.
At least 19 students and two teachers were killed in a shooting in a primary school in the state of Texas on Tuesday. A US Border Patrol official who was nearby when the shooting began rushed into the school and shot and killed the gunman, who was hiding behind a barricade. Two border agents were also injured in an exchange of fire with the gunman. One agent was shot in the head, officials say, adding that both were now in a stable condition in hospital. This latest tragedy comes just two days before Biden left on his trip, he met with victims’ families after a hate-motivated shooter killed 10 Black people at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York.