Vice presidential candidates JD Vance and Tim Walz agreed that schools need to be safer for children before the Democrat made a surprising admission.
“I have a 17-year-old boy who witnessed a shooting at a community center playing volleyball,” the Minnesota governor said, recounting how his 17-year-old son Gus witnessed a tragedy himself. “Those things don’t leave you.”
Vance was shocked by the story and immediately offered his condolences.
‘I didn’t know that my 17-year-old son witnessed a shooting. I’m sorry about that. Christ have mercy. “That’s horrible,” said the Republican.
The rare moment of bipartisan agreement came a little more than an hour after the vice presidential debate, where the two had spoken.
Moments later, as Walz advocated for gun control reforms, he made a startling revelation: “I’ve made friends with school shooters.”
Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz gestures while speaking during a debate with Republican vice presidential candidate US Senator JD Vance. During the debate, Walz stated, “I’ve made friends with school shooters.”
The admission was in response to a question about why Walz had changed his position and now supports an assault weapons ban.
Walz also said he met with parents from the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
The Democrat said: ‘I met in that office with the parents from Sandy Hook. I made friends with school shooters, I’ve seen it. Look, the NRA, I was an NRA guy for a long time. They used to teach gun safety. I’m at the age where my shotgun was in my car so I could hunt pheasants after football practice.’
It’s unclear what point exactly he was trying to make.
The strange statement immediately earned him the contempt of the victims.
‘My daughter died in the Parkland school shooting. It is absolutely abhorrent that Tim Walz has befriended school shooters. Disqualifying,” tweeted Andrew Pollack, whose daughter was killed in the Parkland school shooting.
And attention from the former president.
‘Did Tampon Tim just say he’s made friends with school shooters?’ Trump wrote on his Truth Social app.
‘He’s not even qualified to be governor, much less vice president. Walz and Kamala don’t have what it takes!’
Gus Walz, son of Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, cries during the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, in Chicago, as his mother Gwen Walz looks on
It’s unclear why Walz claimed to be friends with the shooters.
Although Vance and Walz found common ground when it came to protecting schools.
“I don’t want my kids to go to school in a school that feels unsafe…we have to increase safety in our schools,” Vance said.
‘I think Governor Walz and I probably agree that we need to do better on this. The question is how we actually do it.’
‘We have to make the doors close better. We have to make the doors stronger. We have to strengthen the windows and, of course, we have to increase school resource officers, because the idea that we can magically wave a wand and take guns out of the hands of bad guys just doesn’t work. fit with recent experience. “That’s why we have to make our schools safer.”