Biden: Nashville faculty capturing ‘a household’s worst nightmare’

President Biden on Monday referred to as the most recent faculty capturing, which left a minimum of three youngsters lifeless in Nashville, “sick” and lamented that such a tragedy was “a household’s worst nightmare.”

“We’ve got to do extra to cease gun violence. It’s ripping our communities aside. It’s ripping on the very soul of the nation. We’ve got to do extra to guard our faculties so that they aren’t become prisons,” Biden stated in remarks at first of a ladies’s enterprise summit.

At the very least three youngsters and three workers members had been killed after a capturing at a non-public faculty in Nashville that serves preschool via sixth grade, authorities stated. A police spokesperson recognized the shooter as a 28-year-old feminine assailant carrying two assault-style rifles and a handgun. 

Biden was briefed on the capturing, and the White Home has been in contact with the Division of Justice and native officers.

The president referred to as the college capturing “sick,” “heartbreaking” and “a household’s worst nightmare.”

Noting the weapons the assailant was stated to be carrying, Biden reiterated his name for Congress to move an assault weapons ban.

“It’s about time that we start to make some extra progress,” Biden stated, including that his administration would proceed to watch the state of affairs as extra particulars emerge.

First girl Jill Biden, who teaches at a Northern Virginia neighborhood school, additionally addressed the capturing on the high of remarks earlier within the day to a convention of metropolis leaders.

“I’m really with out phrases. Our youngsters deserve higher. We stand, all of us, we stand with Nashville in prayer,” the primary girl stated.

White Home press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre earlier Monday pointed to the passage of a bipartisan gun regulation final yr and govt orders issued by Biden searching for to crack down on gun trafficking and to reinforce background checks as examples of how the administration has sought to deal with the scourge of gun violence.

“What number of extra youngsters should be murdered earlier than Republicans in Congress step up and act to move the assault weapons ban. to shut loopholes in our background checks, or to require the secure storage of weapons?” Jean-Pierre stated.

Jean-Pierre didn’t say whether or not the White Home has had any current conversations with Republicans on the difficulty, however she stated Biden would stay optimistic that the federal government can take motion to counter the cycle of mass shootings.

In nearly each occasion of mass shootings which have occurred throughout his first two years as president, Biden has referred to as on Congress to enact a ban on assault weapons that he helped writer whereas he was a senator within the Nineties. 

The White Home has pointed to the passage of a bipartisan gun regulation final yr and govt orders issued by Biden searching for to crack down on gun trafficking and to reinforce background checks. 

Biden signed the background verify order earlier this month throughout a go to to Monterey Park in California, the place a gunman final yr killed 11 individuals throughout Lunar New Yr celebrations.

However administration officers and a few advocates have acknowledged there’s a restrict to how a lot Biden can do unilaterally, shifting the main target to Congress to enact harder gun legal guidelines.

Any vital reforms are unlikely to move through the present session, with Republicans holding a slim majority within the Home and Democrats holding a slim majority within the Senate.