RICHMOND, Va (WRIC) — After more than 20 people, including 19 children, were gunned down in a Texas elementary school, Americans across the country and along political lines appear to ask a similar question to members of Congress: ‘We voted you in, what are you doing to try and prevent tragedies like this from happening?’
Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas is now among a list of mass shootings at schools over the past decade, including Sandy Hook and Marjorie Stoneman Douglas.
“These kinds of mass shootings never happen with the kind of frequency they happen in America. Why? Why are we willing to live with this carnage?,” said President Biden during his address to the nation Tuesday night.
Hours after the innocent victims were killed at Robb Elementary, there remains much to learn about the suspect’s history and motive.
“We don’t know how this 18-year-old got a handgun and allegedly a rifle,” Democratic Virginia Congressman Donald McEachin told 8News Tuesday.
But Democrats like McEachin are opting to criticize the US Senate for not advancing what they call “common-sense gun legislation” that the House has already passed.
“Sadly there’s no way of getting around this I don’t believe,” McEachin said.
The bills include universal background checks, and extending the timeline for those checks to further investigate someone’s history.
When asked by 8News reporter Ben Dennis if there was anything else that the House has not passed on to the Senate that would deter people from bringing guns on to school property, and killing innocent children, McEachin said, “I think that we have passed all the bills that we can possibly pass in that regard… If we can just get those bills that are there already passed, I think they will go a long way in slowing down gun violence.”
One U.S. Senator took to the floor today, and vilified his colleagues who have not helped to advance the House; Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy who represents families of children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary ten years ago.
“Why do you spend all this time running for the United States Senate? Why do you go through all the hassle of getting this job, of putting yourself in a position of authority if your answer is as this slaughter increases, as our kids run for their lives, we do nothing?” Murphy asked.
Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin tweeted that he and the First Lady “are devastated at the incomprehensible and tragic news out of Texas. We are praying for the community of Uvalde and the families who lost their children and loved ones to this senseless attack.”
Democratic Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger also issued a statement via Twitter, pushing for the passage of gun legislation much like McEachin. As for central Virginia Republicans, Representatives Rob Wittman and Bob Goode have not given official comments as of Tuesday night.
