Biden mourns with survivors of school shooting during Texas visit
For the second time in less than two weeks, U.S. President Biden visited the American community shattered by the nation’s deadliest school shooting in a decade.
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden traveled to Uvalde, Texas on Sunday to grieve with and console the families of the victims days after the massacre at Robb Elementary School. The president and first lady Jill wiped away tears as they visited memorials, laying white roses and paying respects to the victims.
The Bidens spent the afternoon with the families of victims and survivors of the shooting at Uvalde County Arena before meeting with paramedics, mental health services providers, firefighters, and law enforcement officials at Garner Field. They also attended Mass at Sacred Heart Catholic Church.
Hours after the shooting on Tuesday, Biden addressed the nation and implored Democrats and Republicans to pass tighter gun control laws. “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?” Biden asked.
“I spent my career as a senator and as Vice President working to pass commonsense gun laws. We can’t and won’t prevent every tragedy. But we know they work and have a positive impact. When we passed the assault weapons ban, mass shootings went down. When the law expired, mass shootings tripled” he said earlier.
The mass shooting, carried out by a lone 18-year-old gunman, killed 19 children and two teachers. There’s anger in the community that to took officers an hour to kill the gunman once he was inside as law enforcement officer called “everyone that’s in the area” to help while children inside the room made 911 calls for help.
