JD Vance told a crowd in Arizona that better security in classrooms, not gun control, is the solution to school shootings, with the Republican nominee for vice president calling massacres like the one in Georgia this week an unfortunate “fact of life.”
Speaking at a rally at Phoenix, Vance said, “I don’t like that this is a fact of life. But if you’re—if you are a psycho, you want to make headlines, you realize that our schools are soft targets. And we have got to bolster security at our schools… We’ve got to bolster security so if a psycho wants to walk through the front door and kill a bunch of children, they’re not able to.”
The Ohio senator’s remarks came a day after a 14-year-old gunman allegedly opened fire at Apalachee High School, killing two teachers and two students. The suspect, Colt Gray, was charged with four counts of felony murder and will be tried as an adult.
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Later on Thursday, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said that Gray’s father, Colin Gray, had been arrested and charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder, and eight counts of cruelty to children.
Sources told CNN that Colin Gray is believed to have given his son an AR-15 style rifle as a gift last Christmas.
Republican U.S. vice presidential nominee Senator JD Vance speaks at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. September 5, 2024.
Go Nakamura/ReutersAt the rally, Vance was asked by a reporter what could be done to stop school shootings, according to the Associated Press.
“If these psychos are going to go after our kids we’ve got to be prepared for it,” Vance said. “We don’t have to like the reality that we live in, but it is the reality we live in. We’ve got to deal with it.”
He also called the shooting an “awful tragedy,” and said the victims’ families needed prayers and sympathy, the AP reported.
Fred Guttenberg, the father of one of the victims of the 2018 Parkland school shooting, was quick to condemn Vance for his words.
“School shootings are a fact of life? My daughter Jaime’s murder was a fact of life?” he said in a post on X. “F--k you @JDVance, you miserable pr--k.
“I can’t wait to make your exit from having any say in our public safety a fact of life. I can’t wait to vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.”
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, called the shooting a “senseless tragedy” and “outrageous” in a speech in New Hampshire hours after it occurred.
DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd condemned Vance’s comments in a statement: “Let’s be clear: no matter what Donald Trump and JD Vance say, tragedies like this do not need to be a ‘fact of life,’ and we don’t just have to ‘get over it’ when Americans, including young children, are violently murdered. But there’s another choice: Vice President Harris and Governor Walz are ready to stand up to the gun lobby to protect our communities. Trump and Vance have railed against commonsense reforms and federal bipartisan gun safety legislation that would protect innocent lives. As Trump and Vance put the gun lobby ahead of the American people, voters are ready to reject their dangerous and out-of-touch agenda in November.”
“It’s senseless. It is,” she said. “We’ve got to stop it, and we have to end this epidemic of gun violence in our country once and for all. You know, it doesn’t have to be this way. It doesn’t have to be this way.”
In a Wednesday post on Truth Social, former President Donald Trump, Vance’s running mate, said, “Our hearts are with the victims and loved ones of those affected by the tragic event in Winder, GA. These cherished children were taken from us far too soon by a sick and deranged monster.”
