WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – President Biden addressed the country on the first anniversary of the elementary school shooting that took the lives of 19 students and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas.
“God bless those 21 blessed souls lost on this day in Uvalde and may God bless their families, we’re thinking of you,” Biden said.
President Biden honored the victims and continued his calls for Congress to take action and pass legislation that addresses gun violence in the country.
“I know for a long time it’s been hard to make progress, but there will come a point where our voices are so loud, our determination so clear, we can no longer be stopped,” Biden said.
The U.S. Department of Education reports 135 school shootings so far this year, with 19 of them resulting in death.
“We cannot normalize in this country the death of children,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said.
Cardona says there is something fundamentally wrong if lawmakers value guns more than the lives of students.
“It’s not a Republican, Democrat thing. Ask the parents of the 19 children whose lives were lost, the lives who were lost at sandy hook. We’re talking about lives of kids,” Cardona said.
Some Democrats say they won’t stop pushing for change, as a way to honor the lives lost.
“I hope we don’t come back here in a year with the same amount of nothing to show for these grieving families,” Texas Democratic Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett said.
