Former United States President Barack Obama says the United States is “paralyzed” by the Republican Party and the country’s powerful arms lobby, as the world reacts to a deadly shooting that killed 19 children in a Texas Elementary School
Key points:
- The shooting has sparked new calls for gun reform in America by prominent public figures
- NBA coach Steve Kerr says the country’s leaders must act with firearms legislation that would introduce background checks
- Republicans have denounced the attack, but have not pledged to increase calls for gun control
U.S. officials have confirmed that two adults were killed along with second-, third- and fourth-graders when an 18-year-old gunman opened fire on Robb d’Uvalde Elementary School on Tuesday, about 130 miles (130 km) away. San Antonio.
It is the deadliest shooting in Texas history and took place four years after a gunman killed 10 people at Santa Fe High School in Houston.
It comes less than a fortnight after nine people were killed at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York.
The attack has been widely condemned, including by US President Joe Biden, who described it as a massacre and promised to act on arms reform.
Former U.S. President Barack Obama, who was in power when the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in December 2012, said there was a renewed urgency for the United States to act on reform. of weapons.
“Almost 10 years after Sandy Hook, and 10 days after Buffalo, our country is paralyzed, not by fear, but by a gun lobby and a political party that has shown no willingness to act in any way. that can help prevent these tragedies. ” He said.
“It’s been a long time coming for action, any kind of action. And it’s another tragedy, calmer but no less tragic, that families are waiting for another day.”
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Former President Bill Clinton stressed the need for leaders at all levels of government to find ways to protect children and communities across the country.
“Our elected leaders at the local, state and federal levels, regardless of party, need to find common sense ways to keep our children and communities safe,” Clinton said.
“They can do it without touching the right to hunt, shoot sports and keep weapons for self – defense.
“Propaganda and paranoia have prevented us from helping each other in this for too long. We can do – and be – better. The time to act is now.”
Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy delivered a passionate speech shortly after the news of the Texas shooting was announced.
“Our children live in fear. Every time they step on a classroom, they think they will be next,” he said.
“What are we doing?”
Republican politicians also denounced the attack, but did not call for changes in the way firearms are regulated and accessed.
Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell said he was “horrified and saddened by reports of disgusting violence against innocent schoolchildren.”
“The whole country is praying for the children, the families, the teachers and the staff, and the first to respond to the scene,” he said.
Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz offered his condolences to children and families affected by the shooting and emergency services.
“Thanks to the heroic law enforcement and those first responsible for acting so quickly,” he said.
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott urged Texans to unite and support each other.
“Jeans are mourning the victims of this senseless crime and the Uvalde community,” he said.
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to search, up and down arrows for volume. Texas governor talks about shooting at elementary school.
“It’s pathetic and I’ve had enough”
Nearby, in Dallas, Golden State Warriors NBA coach Steve Kerr used a pre-match press conference to urge U.S. senators to act with HR8.
The proposed legislation would require background checks on anyone who wants to buy a firearm, and has passed the lower house, but continues to be tabled in the Senate.
“We can’t fall asleep with that. We can’t sit here and just read it and say ‘okay, let’s take a moment of silence, yes, go Dubs, you know, let’s go Mavs, let’s go’.” Kerr said before a playoff game between the Warriors and the Mavericks.
“Do you realize that 90 percent of Americans, regardless of political party, want a universal background check?”
Kerr has long been an advocate for gun control, after his father, Malcolm Kerr, was assassinated by a gunman in Beirut in 1984.
“We are being held hostage by 50 senators in Washington who refuse to even vote for us despite what we, the American people, want,” he said.
“They will not vote for him because they want to maintain their own power.
“It’s pathetic and I’ve had enough.”
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American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift said Uvalde’s shooting filled her with anger and pain, sharing Kerr’s passionate speech.
“Steve’s words sound so true and so profound,” he wrote on Twitter.
Big basketball LeBron James also took to social media to condemn the shooting and tweeted that “there just has to be change.”
“Like when there’s enough man !!! These are kids and we keep putting them in danger at school … where he’s supposed to be the safest!” He wrote.
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U.S. actor George Takei took to Twitter to criticize Mr. Cruz and Abbott, who are both scheduled to speak at a National Rifle Association (NRA) conference in Houston on Friday with former U.S. President Donald Trump.
“If Ted Cruz and Greg Abbott really cared about the children who were killed today in Texas, they would cancel their concerts at the NRA conference in Houston this coming Friday,” he wrote.
“If we want change, we have to demand it from our leaders,” he said in a separate tweet.
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Poet Amanda Gorman, who spoke during Biden’s inauguration last year, wrote that not acting repeatedly on children was a sign of “inhumanity.”
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“It takes a monster to kill children,” he wrote on Twitter.
“But to see monsters kill children over and over again and do nothing is not just madness, it is inhumanity.
“The truth is that a nation is under arms. What could we be if we only tried. What could we become if we only listened.”
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to search, up and down arrows for volume. Clock time: 2 minutes 40 seconds 2 m 40 s The school has just under 600 students, according to local authorities.