Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance said he lamented that school shootings are a ‘fact of life’ and argued the U.S. needs to harden security to prevent more carnage like the shooting this week that left four dead in Georgia.
‘If these psychos are going to go after our kids we’ve got to be prepared for it,’ Vance said at a rally, on Thursday, in Phoenix.
‘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.’
The Ohio senator was asked by a journalist what can be done to stop school shootings.
He said further restricting access to guns, as many Democrats advocate, won’t end them, noting they happen in states with both lax and strict gun laws.
Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance said he lamented that school shootings are a ‘fact of life’ and argued the U.S. needs to harden security to prevent further carnage
He touted efforts in Congress to give schools more money for security.
‘I don’t like that this is a fact of life,’ Vance said. ‘But if you are a psycho and you want to make headlines, you realize that our schools are soft targets.
And we have got to bolster security at our schools. We’ve got to bolster security so if a psycho wants to walk through the front door and kill a bunch of children they’re not able.’
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 called the shooting in Georgia an ‘awful tragedy,’ and said the families in Winder, Georgia, need prayers and sympathy.
‘If these psychos are going to go after our kids we’ve got to be prepared for it,’ Vance said at a rally, on Thursday, in Phoenix, Arizona
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.
Colin Gray (pictured left), 54, has been taken into custody by local authorities and charged with two counts of murder, four counts of involuntary manslaughter, and eight counts of cruelty to children
Vance argued the U.S. needs to harden security to prevent more carnage like the shooting this week that left four dead in Georgia
On Thursday, the father of Georgia school shooter Colt Gray was arrested on charges including murder after it was revealed that he purchased the AR-15-style rifle the 14-year-old used to shoot dead four people on campus.
Colin Gray, 54, was taken into custody by local authorities and charged with two counts of murder, four counts of involuntary manslaughter, and eight counts of cruelty to children.
Officials confirmed in a press conference that the charges stem from Colin ‘knowingly allowing’ his son to have access to the firearm used in the shooting.
The 14-year-old was apprehended on Wednesday at Apalachee High School in Winder, just minutes after he killed two students and two teachers with the semi-automatic weapon.
The dad allegedly purchased the deadly weapon as a Christmas present to his son – just months after they received an initial visit from the FBI.
The family home was raided on Wednesday afternoon, with FBI investigators seizing firearms and evidence.
The American and state of Georgia flags fly half-staff after a shooting Wednesday at Apalachee High School on Thursday in Winder, Georgia
Colt Gray was given the gun he used to allegedly shoot dead four people at his Georgia high school as a Christmas present from his father
Neighbors saw Colin return to the family home on Wednesday evening, though it is unclear if he handed himself into authorities.
A neighbor told DailyMail.com that they were ‘terrified’ following the new charges, adding that the family had ‘kept themselves to themselves’ and not integrated with the community in their two years at the property.
‘These charges stem from Mr. Gray knowingly allowing his son, Colt, to possess a weapon,’ GBI Director Chris Hosey said at an evening news conference.
‘His charges are directly connected with the actions of his son and allowing him to possess a weapon.’
In Georgia, second-degree murder means that a person has caused the death of another person while committing second-degree cruelty to children, regardless of intent.
It is punishable by 10 to 30 years in prison, while malice murder and felony murder carry a minimum sentence of life. Involuntary manslaughter means that someone unintentionally causes the death of another person.