Biden travels to Texas amid calls for gun control after school shooting
US President Joe Biden is due to visit Uvalde, Texas, where he is expected to call on Congress to pass gun control legislation while meeting a community struck by a mass shooting at an elementary school on Tuesday.
Biden and the first lady, Jill Biden, will be arrived in the small southern Texas city on Sunday to meet with community leaders, faith leaders, and families of the victims of the shooting at Robb Elementary School.
The president said he and the first lady hoped to let the families and community members of Uvalde know they have “a sense of their pain, and hopefully bring some little comfort to the community in shock, in grief, and in trauma.”
“As a nation, I think we all must be there for them. Everyone,” he said Wednesday.
The massacre, the third deadliest school shooting in US history, occurred when the gunman -- identified as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos -- entered the school building unobstructed and started firing.
The police face intensifying scrutiny for from both inside and outside the community for waiting about an hour before directly confronting the shooter.
The latest massacre has reignited the debate about gun control in the US.
The president's trip will be another opportunity for him to once again call on Congress to pass gun control legislation.
He has increasingly pleaded for lawmakers to take action in recent days.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers has also restarted talks on passing some type of gun control bill recently, but analysts say there is a little chance that they will be able to get the 60 votes needed to pass
The country has received increasing criticism from the international community and gun safety advocates domestically over the failure of lawmakers to pass gun control laws.
The US has a unique gun culture with the right to possess firearms enshrined in the US Constitution.
It's the only nation in the world where civilian guns outnumber the people. There are 120 guns for every 100,000 Americans.
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