Speaking at a campaign event in New Hampshire on Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris broke from her prepared remarks and addressed the school shooting at Apalachee High School, which is located outside of Atlanta, Georgia.
“I grew up in California. We had earthquake drills, fire drills, but our kids are sitting in a classroom where they should be fulfilling their God-given potential and some part of their big beautiful brain is concerned about a shooter busting through the door of the classroom,” said the Democratic presidential nominee.
“It does not have to be this way, and this is just one of the many issues that’s at stake in this election,” Harris said.
According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, four people were killed in the incident and at least nine were injured.
Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith described the crime scene to reporters as an “evil thing.”
The mass shooting follows a Labor Day weekend marred by multiple incidents of gun violence. According to the Gun Violence Archive, between Friday, Aug. 30, and Monday, Sept. 2, at least 141 people across the United States were shot and killed, with an additional 357 wounded.
Despite a decrease in violent crime across the country in the past few years, an August report from Everytown for Gun Safety found an increase in shootings at K-12 schools during the 2023-2024 school year (144) compared to the previous 2022-2023 school year (110). Everytown has been accumulating data on the topic since 2013 and the most shootings occurred in 2021-2022 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic (192 shootings).
Harris has spent much of her time in public office advocating for gun violence prevention measures. As a prosecutor in San Francisco, she prioritized domestic violence cases. While she was California attorney general, Harris pushed for the state to pass a red flag law, preventing gun sales to those who a court has determined could be a danger to themselves and others.
As vice president in the Biden administration, Harris was involved in the passage and implementation of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first federal gun safety legislation to become law in decades.
The Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, has been a longtime ally of the National Rifle Association, which has opposed gun safety legislation at the state, local, and federal levels. Trump’s 2024 campaign was endorsed by the NRA, which praised him as a “powerful champion” for the group’s extremist agenda.
“Our hearts are with the victims and loved ones of those affected by the tragic event in Winder, GA,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social website. “These cherished children were taken from us far too soon by a sick and deranged monster.”
Trump has expressed similar condolences after other shootings while failing to support legislation—like the assault weapons ban Harris backs—that would combat gun violence.
In fact, following a school shooting in Iowa in January, Trump offered “support and our deepest sympathies” to the victims, but then added, “It’s just horrible, so surprising to see it here. But have to get over it, we have to move forward.”
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