President Joe Biden has spoken out following Tuesday's horrific school shooting in Texas.
On Tuesday morning (May 24), officials report that an 18-year-old gunman entered the Robb Elementary School in the city of Uvalde, Texas, at around 11:32AM.
The suspect was reportedly carrying an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, high-capacity magazines, and a handgun, and was able to enter several classrooms during the rampage.
As of this writing, nineteen children and two adults have been killed in the deadly shooting.
Now, Joe Biden has addressed the nation and shared his remarks on the tragedy.
Speaking from the Roosevelt Room on Tuesday evening, Biden started his address by saying: "Good evening, fellow Americans. I had hoped, when I became President, I would not have to do this again.
"Another massacre. Uvalde, Texas. An elementary school."
Biden went on to describe the victims as "beautiful" and "innocent second, third, fourth graders", and questioned how many other children "witnessed what happened" - to "see their friends die as if they’re on a battlefield".
"They’ll live with it the rest of their lives," he added.
The POTUS then expressed his sympathies for the parents of the victims, saying: "To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away."
Biden then spoke about the intention on addressing US gun laws, saying: "So, tonight, I ask the nation to pray for them, to give the parents and siblings the strength in the darkness they feel right now."
"As a nation, we have to ask: When in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When in God’s name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done?"
"It’s been 3,448 days -- 10 years since I stood up at a high school in Connecticut — a grade school in Connecticut, where another gunman massacred 26 people, including 20 first graders, at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
"Since then, there have been over 900 incidents of gunfires reported on school grounds."
"I am sick and tired of it. We have to act. And don’t tell me we can’t have an impact on this carnage," Biden continued.
"I spent my career as a senator and as Vice President working to pass commonsense gun laws," the president said. "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."
References yesterday's shooting, Biden then added: "The idea that an 18-year-old kid can walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong.
"What in God’s name do you need an assault weapon for except to kill someone?
"Deer aren’t running through the forest with Kevlar vests on, for God’s sake. It’s just sick."
Biden continued: "We have to have the courage to stand up to the [gun manufacturing] industry."
The president then stated that "most Americans support commonsense laws", and went on to address the claim that "mental health" is the cause of such massacres. He said:
"I just got off my trip from Asia, meeting with Asian leaders, and I learned of this while I was on the aircraft. And what struck me on that 17-hour flight — what struck me was these kinds of mass shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world.
"Why? They have mental health problems. They have domestic disputes in other countries. They have people who are lost. But these kinds of mass shootings never happen with the kind of frequency that they happen in America. Why?
"Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen? Where in God’s name is our backbone to have the courage to deal with it and stand up to the lobbies?"
Stating that it's "time to turn pain into action", Biden then addressed "those who obstruct or delay or block the commonsense gun laws", saying that "we need to let you know that we will not forget".
At this time, investigators believe the attacker "did act alone".
The teen is also suspected of shooting his grandmother prior to entering the school. CNN reports that she is in critical condition, per Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Erick Estrada.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has named the suspect as Salvador Ramos. Local media report that the 18-year-old was potentially a local high school student.
Abbott added that Ramos allegedly crashed a vehicle near the school before entering the elementary school to "horrifically" and "incomprehensibly" open fire.
The gunman was shot dead by law enforcement officers, officials have said. Two border agents were reportedly shot in an exchange with the gunman, but are now both in a stable condition.
Our thoughts are with the family and loved ones of the victims and anybody else affected by this tragedy.
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