Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance lamented on Thursday (5) that school shootings in the country have become “a fact” and called for more security in schools after the shootings in Winder, Georgia, which left four people dead on Wednesday morning (4).
“I don’t like it. I don’t like admitting it. I don’t like that it’s a fact of life. But if you’re a psychopath and you want headlines, you realize that our schools are easy targets and we need to increase security in those spaces,” Vance said at a campaign event in Phoenix, in response to a question from the CNN about what specific policies he supports to end school shootings.
As the audience applauded, Vance continued, “We need to beef up security so that if a psychopath wants to walk in the front door and kill a bunch of kids, he can’t. And again, as a parent, do I want my kids’ school to have extra security? No, of course not. I don’t want my kids to go to school in a place where they feel like they need extra security. But that’s increasingly the reality we live in.”
Vance also added that strict gun laws are not the determining factor in preventing school shootings.
“Kamala Harris’s response is to take away guns from law-abiding American citizens. That’s what Kamala Harris wants to do,” he said.
“There are some states that have very strict gun laws, and some that don’t. And the states that have strict gun laws have a lot of school shootings,” he said at another point. “And in the states that don’t have strict gun laws, some of them also have school shootings. So clearly, strict gun laws are not the solution to this problem.”
Vance also asked the public to pray for the victims, families and community of Winder.
“No parent should have to deal with this. No child should have to deal with this. And yes, after we keep these people in prayer and give them our sympathies – because that’s what people deserve in times of tragedy – we have to think about how to make this less common,” he said.
Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris criticized Vance’s comments in a post on X.
“School shootings are not just a fact of life. It doesn’t have to be that way. We can take steps to protect our children – and we will,” Kamala stressed.
“Kamala wants to take away the safety of our schools instead of protecting our children. Instead of addressing her own failings, she lies about what I said. More desperation from the biggest fraud in American politics,” Vance posted on X, defending what he said in Phoenix.
The Democratic National Committee also criticized Vance in a statement. “Let’s be clear: No matter what Donald Trump and JD Vance say, tragedies like this do not have to be a ‘fact of life,’ and we don’t just have to ‘get over it’ while Americans, including children, are violently murdered.”
In Georgia, authorities said a 14-year-old boy has been charged with manslaughter following a shooting at a school on Wednesday that left four people dead. Colin Gray, the suspect’s father, also faces four counts of manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Two law enforcement sources with direct knowledge of the investigation said Gray told authorities he bought the AR-style rifle used in the shooting as a gift for his son in December 2023.
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This content was originally published in Vance regrets attacks on US schools and says they are a “fact of life” on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.
