Texas school shooting: Biden pushes for tighter gun control laws, avers 'we have to act'

United States President Joe Biden slammed the Texas school shooting in an emotional address from the White House on Tuesday and said, “I had hoped when I became President I would not have to do this again.” After an 18-year-old gunman opened fire at an elementary school in Uvalde and killed 21, including 18 students and three teachers, Biden stated, “There’s a lot we don’t know yet. There’s a lot we do know” before acknowledging the grief of the victims’ families. The US President reiterated his calls for restrictions on firearms in the country. 

It is to note here that the Texas school shooting took place just shortly after Biden returned to the US from a five-day trip to Asia that was already bookended by another tragedy of gun violence at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York. Just a couple of days before leaving for his trip, Biden had met with the families of the victims of a hate-motivated crime when a shooter fired at 10 Black people at the grocery store. The gun violence tragedies in the US have reignited the debate around existing laws pertaining to the same. 

Following the fatal incident in Texas, Biden said, “There’s a lot we don’t know yet. There’s a lot we do know. Parents who will never see their child again, never have them jump in bed and cuddle with them. Parents who will never be the same. To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away”. Biden tried to touch upon the issue of gun control legislation and implored the lawmakers to “turn this pain into action" as he ticked through some of the mass shootings since the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, when he was vice president. 

“When in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?” he said. “Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why don’t we keep letting this happen?”

“It is time to turn this pain to the action,” he said. “For every parent, every citizen of this country. We have to make it clear to every elected official in this country: it’s time to act. It’s time for those who obstruct or delay or blocked the common sense gun laws – we need to let you know that we will not forget.”

Suspected Texas shooter allegedly shot grandmother before heading to elementary school

Texas Governor Gregg Abbott said the elementary school shooting suspect allegedly shot his grandmother right before heading to Robb Elementary in Uvalde. The shooting took place in a town of about 15,000 people which lies at least 85 miles west of San Antonio in southwest Texas. The shooter opened fire at the school whose school district, the Uvalde school district has an enrollment of under 600 students. Texas Governor informed that the suspected gunman was named Salvador Ramos and the shooter is “deceased and it is believed responding officers killed him”. Abbott also informed that the shooter had a handgun and “may have also had a rifle”.

(Image: AP)