At least 19 children and two teachers were killed as a result of Fr. shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uwald, Texas on Tuesday, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety, an incident that President Joe Biden called a “massacre” in a call for lawmakers to “act.”
The tragedy in Uwalde, about 90 minutes west of San Antonio, came days after another mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, and amid a rapid rise in the number of active shooters in the country.
“We pour so much into our children and our children mean so much to us,” Mayor Adams said. – Yesterday, I’m sure you hugged your children a little tighter.
But the mayor had an acute and important issue.
“You have to ask yourself what we have become?” he said. “Our kids are probably asking moms, dads what you do when they watch these incidents happen over and over again.”
Watch: Full remarks by the mayor
He noted that children kill children.
“Nineteen children, 19 infants were shot dead by an 18-year-old and he injured his grandmother,” Mayor Adams said.
The mayor expressed his sincere condolences to those affected by the tragedy in Texas.
“Our hearts are sincere to the families and friends of those killed, the pain is unimaginable, I can only imagine what it’s like to receive this call,” he said, describing how he would feel if he received the call. . about his own son Jordan. “We need much more than thoughts and prayers.”
He said the situation was not out of our control and that he hoped 10 senators would “gain the courage” to initiate changes to gun laws. He also hopes the Supreme Court will re-evaluate the open transfer law they can pass.
In New York, according to the mayor, the flow of weapons does not seem to stop.
“Weapons keep coming, no matter how much we take off the street,” he said.
School security teams found two loaded guns in New York City schools last week, and the mayor also mentioned the incident when a gun was found in the backpack of a 13-year-old boy at Brooklyn High School.
“A child, a boy, had a 380-caliber semi-automatic cannon loaded in his backpack,” Mayor Adams said. “Thanks to the educators and the school security team, this time they were able to avoid the tragedy. This time. “
ALSO READ | A 4th grade teacher, a 10-year-old boy who was a “party life” among the victims of a Texas school shooting
Shockingly, but the mayor said that since the beginning of the school year last fall, 20 guns were found in New York schools. He then encouraged parents to get involved in solving the problem.
He wants them to search their children’s backpacks and look in their rooms, and if you find weapons and ammunition, “something’s wrong.”
“Parents are not just parents,” he said. – They are rescuers.
This is an opinion shared by School Chancellor David Banks.
“Every day we hear about these terrible things happening in the news,” Banks said. “As a country, we grieve. As a school system, we grieve. And I know all New Yorkers feel it together.”
He recalled Sandy Hook’s tragedy in 2012 and said: “It is crystal clear that we are doing our best to keep our youngest New Yorkers safe and secure.”
“It was not our children who created this world, it was us,” Adams said. “Children do not make weapons. Children do not make laws. Children are harmed by the actions of adults, and we betray them. “
Adams showed a video that has been viewed on social media hundreds of thousands of times, where teenagers brandishing guns say, “I want a body.”
“This is what our children are fed,” he said, adding that social media helps create the “perfect storm.”
So far, there has been a reduction in shooting by almost 30% in April and continues in May. The mayor said the NYPD and their police officers are doing their job and this is reducing crime.
Banks also said a meeting with union leaders would be held next week to discuss security measures that schools and teachers could take in the future. One topic may be locking the school doors at the beginning of the school day and forcing parents and visitors to ask for entry.
ALSO READ | Look at some of the deadliest school shootings in the U.S. since the initial Uwalde attack
In New York State, Gov. Katie Hochul also held an emergency meeting with State Police Chief Kevin Bruen on Wednesday.
“We physically go to schools that are in our patrol area,” he said. “We are also appealing to schools and school administrators who are not necessarily in patrol areas. We are not going to duplicate efforts.”
Bruen said officers in uniform and without it will patrol campuses until the end of the school year.
“It rarely happens in other countries,” Hochul said. “This is happening in a country that seems to respect the rights of gun owners and the ability to own guns, not the rights of children to stay alive.”
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