The shooting at a Texas elementary school, which killed 19 children and two teachers on Tuesday, has sparked shock in the United States. Not only from a political angle but also the media and sports world there are calls for stricter gun legislation.
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, who took office in the Connecticut Senate one month after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, tearfully wondered “what we are doing here.” It’s not that this is inevitable, Murphy said, referring to the shooting. Murphy stated that “this is only happening in this country, and nowhere else. It is our choice to let this continue.”
Murphy later explained to reporters that America “makes it possible for very sick people to get firearms,” writes The Guardian. “That’s what makes America different. And I’m here on my knees begging for that to change.”
In a series of tweets, former President Barack Obama also wrote that “action should have been taken a long time ago” to tighten gun laws. First Lady Jill Biden, herself a schoolteacher, tweeted, “Lord, enough.” She wrote that she was “stunned, angry and heartbroken” at the drama that took place in the town of Uvalde on Tuesday. Earlier, President Joe Biden had already called on his compatriots to take action against the gun lobby.
American actor Matthew McConaughey, known for films such as Interstellar and The Gentlemen, was born in Uvalde and writes on Instagram that the US must act to prevent such massacres. “We all know that it can and should be better,” writes the 52-year-old actor.
The shooting has not gone unnoticed elsewhere in the world. Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky expresses condolences to the bereaved and said it is “terrible that in peacetime there are victims of shootings”.