The President and the First Lady visit the Texas town of Uvalde to comfort the families of the victims of the school massacre
Six days have passed since the massacre in Uvalde, Texas, in which 18-year-old Salvador Ramos entered a fourth-grade classroom at Robb Elementary School and opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle after uttering the terrifying words: “You are going to all die.” A tragedy difficult to forget. The president of the United States, Joe Biden, visited this Sunday, together with the first lady, Jill, that small town in Texas -of some 16,000 inhabitants, of which 80% are Spanish-speaking- to comfort the relatives of the victims, still traumatized and with recurring nightmares about what happened.
“Too much violence, too much fear, too much pain.” In a speech full of emotion in which the 21 victims of the crime (nineteen children between the ages of 9 and 11 and two teachers) were remembered, the US president urged action to prevent a recurrence of events of this caliber. “You can’t make dramas illegal, I know. But America can be made safer,” Biden noted, lamenting that “so many innocent people have died.” For this reason, the head of the White House called on “all Americans to unite and make their voices heard and work together to make this nation what it can and should be.”
For its part, the US Department of Justice announced this Sunday that there will be a review of the work of local and federal police forces during the massacre committed at the Uvalde elementary school. According to the newspaper ‘The Hill’, what is called a ‘critical incident review’ will be carried out, the purpose of which is “to have an independent view of the action and response of the security forces that day and identify the lessons learned to improve practices” in the face of violent events of this type.
change of laws
The Bidens visited the memorial altar at Robb Elementary School. They attended mass and met with the families of the victims and survivors at the County Events Center to join them in mourning the worst shooting in the United States since twenty children and six adults were gunned down at Sandy Elementary School in 2012. Hook, in Newtown, Connecticut.
Efforts to tighten firearms regulations have repeatedly failed in the country. But this latest crime has reopened the debate and could change the future of US law. “There are more Republicans interested in talking about finding a way forward this time than we’ve seen since Sandy Hook,” Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, who has led talks with Republicans since Tuesday’s shooting, told ABC. who have resisted for years control measures on the use and sale of weapons, in order to promote a change in laws.
citizen appeal
“Let’s work together to make this nation what it can and should be,” declares the president
Two of the points where more is being talked about is the limitation -under judicial supervision- of the possession of weapons to some individuals by their own relatives or the Police and also more control over the storage of firearms. It won’t be easy, but after the Uvalde school massacre, there is a “different feeling,” said Dick Durbin, the number two Democrat in the Senate. “The real challenge is whether Republicans will step up and show courage in a very difficult situation,” he told CNN.
However, he bet that “there will be some” opposition legislators who would be in favor of promoting new regulations according to the first conclusions he has drawn from the meetings he has held over the weekend. This is the case of Adam Kinzinger, a moderate Republican in the House of Representatives, who claimed to be “open to a ban” or other measures after the latest tragedy in the country.
Kamala Harris calls for banning assault weapons from civilians
Efforts to tighten gun regulations have repeatedly failed in the United States. But this latest crime has reopened the debate. Vice President Kamala Harris called Saturday for assault weapons to be banned in the country. Do you know what an assault weapon is? It was designed for a specific purpose: to kill many humans quickly. An assault weapon is a weapon of war that has no place in civil society,” she said.
Harris also proposed measures for greater control in the sale of weapons, such as background checks in order to know if the client has previously committed some type of crime – a system that is already carried out with driver’s licenses. “This should not be happening in our country, we should have the courage to do something about it,” settled the vice president.
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