Kamala Harris went off script Wednesday to criticize the epidemic of school shootings in the United States, calling them “senseless” and saying “it doesn’t have to be this way.”
Harris, while campaigning in New Hampshire, referred to a school shooting that took place in Georgia on Wednesday morning, which occurred as many students were returning to classrooms after summer break.
She acknowledged she was “going off script” in making her comments and expressed empathy for what the students and their parents are going through.
“It’s just outrageous that every day in our country, in the United States of America, parents have to send their children to school worried about whether or not their children will come home alive,” Kamala Harris said.
“By the way, I love Gen Z, I just love Gen Z,” she said.
He said that when he visits colleges, he asks students how many of them had to sit through an active shooter drill and that “almost every hand” was up.
“I grew up in California, where we had earthquake drills. We had fire drills, but our kids are sitting in a classroom where they should be developing all of their God-given potential and part of their big, beautiful brain is worried about a shooter bursting through the classroom door. It doesn’t have to be that way,” she said.
Harris was in New Hampshire to speak about small businesses as part of her presidential campaign. She proposed a plan to expand tax incentives for small businesses.
But he did address the Georgia shooting at the beginning of his remarks, saying “our hearts go out to all the students, the teachers and their families, of course, and we are grateful to first responders and law enforcement.”
He added that this is “a senseless tragedy on top of so many other senseless tragedies, and it is simply outrageous that every day in our country, in the United States of America, parents have to send their children to school worried about whether their child will come home alive or not.”
“It doesn’t make sense. It does. We need to stop it and 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.”
“This is one of the many issues at stake in this election,” he added, before returning to the script to talk about his economic plan.
Harris spoke from behind a wall of clear, bulletproof glass, a new feature of her outdoor events and one that comes after an assassination attempt on Donald Trump last month at an outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The shooting at a high school about 45 miles from Atlanta on Wednesday morning left four people dead — two students and two teachers — and nine others taken to various hospitals with injuries, state officials said.
A 14-year-old suspect is in custody.
Apalachee High School was placed on lockdown after shots were reported at the scene around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Several schools in Georgia were also closed Wednesday morning, the fifth full week of classes in the state.
Georgia police and the FBI are on the scene.
It is unclear whether the deceased and the victims are high school students or adults.
Students were evacuated to the football stadium after shots were fired at the school.
Pictured: Heavily armed police officers were seen entering the school on Wednesday morning.
Apalachee High School, which returned from summer break on Aug. 1, has about 1,900 students.
Harrowing videos showed frantic students running onto the school’s football field, while others crowded around ambulances as people streamed out of the building.
School shootings are on the rise in the United States
There were at least 82 incidents in 2023, but 2022 was one of the deadliest years, with 46 deaths, according to a CNN analysis.
President Joe Biden was briefed on the shooting and said in a statement: ‘Jill and I are mourning the deaths of those whose lives were cut short due to more senseless gun violence and thinking of all the survivors whose lives were forever changed.
‘What should have been a joyous back-to-school season in Winder, Georgia, has now become another horrific reminder of how gun violence continues to tear our communities apart.
‘Students across the country are learning to duck and cover instead of reading and writing. We can no longer accept this as normal.
“We are coordinating closely with officials at the federal, state and local levels, and we are grateful to the first responders who apprehended the suspect and prevented further loss of life.”