President Biden says 'we have to act' after Texas school shooting
President Joe Biden delivers remarks from the Roosevelt Room of the White House as first lady Jill Biden looks on concerning the mass shooting at a Texas elementary school on May 24, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden delivered an emotional call for new restrictions on firearms in an address to the nation after a horrific shooting in Uvalde, Texas left 18 children and one teacher dead on Tuesday.
Biden spoke on the tragedy that has devastated Robb Elementary School in the town about 80 miles outside of San Antonio, Texas. The president also issued a proclamation ordering all flags be flown at half-staff on Saturday.
"When in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?" Biden asked while speaking at the White House with first lady Jill Biden standing by his side in the Roosevelt Room. "I am sick and tired. We have to act."
President Biden had just returned from a five-day trip to Asia. Just two days before Biden left on his trip, he met with victims' families after a hate-motivated shooter killed 10 Black people at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York.
"These kinds of mass shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world," Biden said. "Why?"
An officer walks outside of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, 2022. - An 18-year-old gunman killed 14 children and a teacher at an elementary school in Texas on Tuesday, according to the state's governor, in the nation's deadliest s
Vice President Kamala Harris said earlier that people normally declare in moments like this, "our hearts break -- but our hearts keep getting broken ... and our broken hearts are nothing compared to the broken hearts of those families."
"We have to have the courage to take action ... to ensure something like this never happens again," she said.
Shortly before landing in Washington, Biden spoke with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott from the presidential plane "to offer any and all assistance he needs in the wake of the horrific shooting, White House communications director Kate Bedingfield tweeted.
Earlier, the governor identified the accused gunman as local resident Salvador Romas.