On Wednesday, at a rally in New Hampshire, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke out strongly against gun violence. Her words came in response to a terrible shooting earlier that day at a Georgia high school that killed four people.
Harris called the killing a “senseless tragedy,” and said, “we’ve got to end the epidemic of gun violence in our country once and for all. She then deviated from her prepared speech to reflect on her conversations with Generation Z students about how gun violence affects their daily lives.
Vice President Harris spoke passionately about her encounters with young people last year on college campuses, where she discussed the trauma and fears associated with school shootings. “By the way, I love Gen Z, I just love Gen Z,” she remarked.
She went on, recounting how she had asked children if they had ever participated in active shooter drills at school. “Every hand went up,” Harris said, emphasizing the widespread dread of violence among young Americans.
Reflecting on her own school days in California, Harris pointed out that the drills she experienced were for natural disasters like earthquakes and fires. “But our kids are sitting in a classroom, where they should be fulfilling their God-given potential, and some part of their brain is worried about a shooter busting through the classroom. It does not have to be this way,” she declared.
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She then highlighted the importance of the topic in the upcoming elections, referring to it as “one of the many issues that’s at stake in this election,” before returning to her prepared economic policy address.
The incident occurred at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, and left four people dead. The suspect has been captured, and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) has promised to deploy all state resources to help with the investigation and reaction.
President Joe Biden was briefed on the tragedy and conveyed his condolences to the victims and their families, saying that he is “mourning the deaths of those whose lives were cut short due to more senseless gun violence.”
He emphasized the importance of tackling this issue, writing, “What should have been a joyous back-to-school season in Winder, Georgia, has now turned into another horrific reminder of how gun violence continues to tear our communities apart.”
Biden also blasted the current situation, claiming that “students across the country are learning how to duck and cover instead of how to read and write.” He urged Republican members to work with Democrats in Congress to develop more effective solutions to reduce gun violence.
Both Harris and Biden have emphasized the need for swift action to avert future tragedies. The massacre in Georgia is a striking reminder of the ongoing problem of gun violence in American schools and communities. The administration has restated its commitment to working across party lines to put in place changes that would protect the safety of students and citizens nationwide.
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