President Joe Biden said he is “sick and tired” of lawmakers’ inaction after a gunman shot and killed over a dozen children at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday.
“As a nation, we have to ask: When in God’s name are we gonna stand up to the gun lobby … do what we all know in our gut needs to be done?” Biden said in an emotional speech from the White House.
Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen? Where in God’s name is our backbone?” the president said. “It’s time to act. It’s time for those who obstruct or delay or block commonsense gun laws, to let you know: We will not forget. We can do so much more, we have to do more.”
At least 18 young students and three adults were killed after an 18-year-old gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School on Tuesday afternoon. The shooter was killed by responding officers.
The school shooting is the deadliest mass shooting in the country this year..
Biden has ordered all flags on federal lands to be flown at half-staff.
The shooting in Uvalde came only 10 days after 10 Black people were shot dead by an 18-year-old white supremacist at a supermarket in Buffalo.