The Presidential candidates reacted in different ways to Wednesday’s shooting at a Georgia high school.
After a 14-year-old alleged shooter killed four and injured nine more at Apalachee High School, the pair spoke to supporters at different events. During a campaign speech in New Hampshire, Vice President Kamala Harris called the killings a “senseless tragedy” and said, “It doesn’t have to be this way.” She called for three gun restrictions, including a ban on guns like the AR-15, which she has made the centerpiece of her firearms policy.
“Let us finally pass an assault weapons ban and universal background checks and red flag laws,” Harris said. “It is a false choice to say you are either in favor of the Second Amendment or you want to take everyone’s guns away.”
In a post on his social media site, Former President Donald Trump called the attack a “tragic event” carried out by a “sick and deranged monster.” During a Fox News town hall interview, he didn’t discuss gun policy but promised to “heal our world.”
“It’s a sick and angry world for a lot of reasons, and we’re going to make it better. We’re going to heal our world,” Trump said. “We’re going to get rid of all these wars that are starting all over the place because of incompetent American leadership. We’re going to make it better.”
The gun policy debate in the 2024 election has largely stagnated since Harris took over the top of the ticket, her campaign walked back her previous support for a mandatory buyback of AR-15s, and she adopted President Biden’s gun policy positions. Harris has continually emphasized the same three new restrictions she called for on Wednesday, while Trump has largely stayed quiet on guns. However, the horrendous attack has the potential to upend the gun politics of the race.
Police identified a 14-year-old student as the suspected perpetrator of the attack on Wednesday. Law enforcement officials said the attacker killed two students and two staff members before a pair of school resource officers confronted and arrested him.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said the shooter used an AR-15 rifle during his attack, though police released that information after Vice President Harris made her remarks calling to ban the rifles. However, it remains unclear how the shooter obtained his gun or got it into school.
Harris, who heads the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, went on to describe meetings with college students where she talked about active shooter drills. She lamented the idea that students have had to deal with those exercises.
“It’s just outrageous that every day in our country, in the United States of America, that parents have to send their children to school worried about whether or not their child will come home alive,” Harris said. “It’s senseless. We’ve got to stop it.”
She said it was “one of the many issues that’s at stake in this election.”
“We have to end this epidemic of gun violence in this country once and for all,” Harris said.
