White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre suggested Republicans carried blame for the school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee due to their opposition to gun control.
"We're seeing the heartbreaking news of another shooting of innocent school children, this time in Nashville, Tennessee," Jean-Pierre said at the opening of today’s press conference.
She informed reporters that President Biden had been briefed on the shooting and noted his administration and the Department of Justice (DOJ) were in communication with local officials.
"While we don't know all the details in this latest tragic shooting we know that too often our schools and communities are being devastated by gun violence,” she added. "Schools should be safe spaces for our kids to grow and learn and for our educators to teach.”
Jean-Pierre noted Biden's previous urge for Congress to enact further gun control legislation, saying "enough is enough."
“How many more children have to be murdered before Republicans in Congress will step up and act to pass the assault weapons ban?" Jean-Pierre asked. "Once again, the president calls on Congress to do something before another child is senselessly killed in a preventable act of gun violence."
"We have to do more to stop gun violence. It’s ripping our communities apart," President Biden reportedly said during the Small Business Administration’s Women’s Business Summit on Monday afternoon. "We have to do more to protect our schools so they’re not turned into prisons."
“I call on Congress again to pass my assault weapons ban,” he added.
On Monday, a 28-year-old woman opened fire at The Covenant School in Nashville — killing three children and three adults.
"The police department response was swift," a police official said at a press conference outside the school. "Officers entered the first story of the school and began clearing it. They heard shots coming from the second level and they went toward the gunfire. When the officers got to the second level, they saw a shooter, a female, who was firing. The officers engaged her, she was fatally shot by responding police officers. "
The shooter reportedly entered the school through a side door and was armed with at least two "assault-type" rifles and a handgun, according to the director of the Police Department Media Relations Office, Don Aaron. The woman was fatally shot by police after arriving on scene.
