JD Vance, however, called the shooting an “awful tragedy,”, adding that the families in Winder, Georgia, need prayers and sympathy
By Kehinde Okeowo
Ohio senator and Republican vice presidential nominee, JD Vance has said school shootings are a “fact of life” in the United States, calling for better security to prevent more carnage like the shooting this week that left four dead in Georgia.
He made this known on Thursday when asked by a journalist what can be done to stop school shootings in the US.
TheNiche had earlier reported that a 14-year-old student identified as Colt Gray opened fire at a Georgia high school on Wednesday and killed four people while nine others — eight students and one teacher — were taken to hospitals with injuries.
The dead were later identified as two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School in Winder, about an hour’s drive from Atlanta.
Reacting to the development, JD Vance argued that school shootings are a “fact of life,” in the US and advocated tightening of security to prevent a reoccurrence.
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He further said restricting access to guns, as many Democrats advocate, won’t end them, noting they happen in states with both lax and strict gun laws. He touted efforts in Congress to give schools more money for security.
“We don’t have to like the reality that we live in, but it is the reality we live in. We’ve got to deal with it.”
Vance said he doesn’t like the idea of his own kids going to a school with hardened security, “but that’s increasingly the reality that we live in.”
He, however, called the shooting in Georgia an “awful tragedy,” and said the families in Winder, Georgia, need prayers and sympathy.
Earlier this year, Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, toured the bloodstained Florida classroom building where the 2018 Parkland high school massacre happened. She then announced a program to assist states that have laws allowing police to temporarily seize guns from people judges have found to be dangerous.
Harris, who leads the new White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, has supported both stronger gun controls, such as banning sales of AR-15 and similar rifles, and better school security, like making sure classroom doors don’t lock from the outside as they did in Parkland.
Meanwhile, the father of Colt Gray has been arrested in connection with the shooting at Apalachee High School.
According to GBI, Colin Gray, age 54, has been charged with 4 counts of Involuntary Manslaughter, 2 counts of Second Degree Murder and 8 counts of Cruelty to Children.