The President of the United States, Joe Biden, and his wife, Jill, today paid a visit to Uvalde, the small Texas town dismayed after the massacre in an elementary school that left 21 dead, to honor the deceased students and express their solidarity with the families.
Past midday, Biden and Jil, wearing suits and dark glasses, made a first stop at the memorial installed in front of Robb Elementary School, the scene of the massacre.
There, the president and the first lady left a bouquet of white flowers and stopped in front of the photos of the 21 victims, which Jill caressed one by one. Then they went to the church to hear mass.
“Our hearts are broken,” said Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller in his homily.
The trip is Biden’s second in two weeks for a shooting spree, after he went on the 17th of this month to Buffalo, New York, where a young white supremacist murdered 10 black people days earlier in a supermarket.
This latest tragedy seems to affect the first lady personally, a proud teacher for decades and who continues to go to class with her students, including from the White House.
Saturday, Biden stated that “tragedy cannot be outlawed, but you could “make America safer.”
This was supposed to be the first weekend off for the 19 murdered children: a weekend to celebrate the end of school and the beginning of the summer season.
To Biden, the parents of the small victims of the Uvalde elementary school asked him for a strong action on weapons, so that another event like this is repeated.
At the federal level, the Justice Department said it will conduct a review of how officers responded to the shooting, “with the goal of providing an independent report.” About that black May 24th
The event also had repercussions in Congress, where a bipartisan group is working to reach a compromise on weapons, but –observers quoted by the Ansa agency highlighted- the proposals under discussion are weak and would not have prevented the shooting of Uvalde.
Although entrenched in defending the Second Amendment, Republicans seem willing to seek a compromise capable of dampening the anger of a country exasperated by another school massacre.
Among the hypotheses being studied is that of the “Red Flag Laws”, which allows police officers and relatives to ask a court to collect the weapons of someone who is considered dangerous to them and to others.
Lawmakers expressed cautious optimism to take some steps in that direction.
“There are more Republicans interested in talking about finding a way forward this time than we’ve seen since Sandy Hook,” said Democratic Senator Chris Murphy. to the ABC network.
And your block pair Dick Durbin expressed confidence that “there will be some” opposition lawmakers who speak out in favor of pushing new rules, while Adam Kinzinger, a moderate Republican in the House of Representatives, revealed that he is “now” open to a ban. of firearms or greater requirements for their purchase and use.
According to the Europa Press agency, to make it easier for any initiative with these characteristics to gain approval, the Democrats could agree to some of the Republicans’ demands, such as increasing security measures in schools.
Democrats have sought gun control laws in recent years, particularly since an attacker killed 27 people at Sandy Hook College in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012. but the Republicans and the most conservative sector of the Democratic Party itself always blocked this type of initiative.
In Uvalde Biden excused himself from talking about politics and making statements.
As a father who lost a son, the president already knows what it means to feel an insurmountable emptiness.
During their visit to the town, the presidential couple greeted the manager of the school, Hal Harrrell, and its director, Mandy Gutiérrez, and Biden also met with the governor of Texas, Republican Greg Abbott, and his wife, Cecilia Abbott, and with relatives of the victims and survivors of the massacre.
The United States Department of Justice announced that it will analyze the response of local and federal police authorities, based on a request from the mayor of Uvalde, Don McLaughlin, who asked the federal agency for a Critical Incident Review, which will be assumed by the Office Community Oriented Policing.
“The purpose of this review is to have an independent version of the action and response of the security forces on that day and to identify the lessons learned and improve practices so that those who respond to these situations are prepared for incidents with active shooters,” he explained. spokesman Anthony Coley.
