Kamala Harris has spoken out about Wednesday morning's shooting at a Georgia high school, which left four students dead and several injured.
The Democratic presidential nominee took the stage during a scheduled rally in North Hampton, New Hampshire, and began her remarks by expressing her condolences to those impacted by the tragedy, and emphasizing the need for gun violence reform in the country.
Though neither the suspect nor the four victims' names have been shared, it has been reported by several outlets that the shooter is a 14-year-old male, however it has not yet been disclosed whether he is a student of the school, Apalachee High School, in Winder.
While the focus of Harris' rally in New Hampshire was the economy, she began her speech by addressing the "tragic shooting," acknowledging that authorities were still in the process of gathering information.
"Our hearts are with all the students and the teachers and their families of course, and we are grateful to the first responders and law enforcement that were on the scene," she said, before declaring: "This is just a senseless tragedy, on top of so many senseless tragedies, and it is outrageous that everyday in our country in the United States of America, that parents have to send their children to school worried about whether or not their child will come home alive."
Per Statista, as of July, there have been 35 incidents of school shootings this year impacting K-12 school grounds and college campuses nationwide, compared to a total of 82 last year.
© Getty"It's senseless, we've got to stop it, and we have to end this epidemic of gun violence in our country once and for all. It doesn't have to be this way," Harris maintained.
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Going "off script," the vice president then noted how last year she began a college tour, during which she visited several campuses nationwide and met with college age "young leaders."
© GettyShe recalled how "every time" she asked the auditorium to raise their hands if at any point between kindergarten and 12th grade they had to endure an active shooter drill, "every time, the auditorium was packed, and almost every hand went up."
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© GettyGrowing up in Oakland, California, she said, "we had earthquake drills, we had fire drills," before noting: "Our kids are sitting in a classroom where they should be fulfilling their God-given potential, and some part of their big beautiful brain, is concerned about a shooter busting through the door of the classroom.
© Getty"It does not have to be this way," she urged, and reminded the crowd: "This is one of the many issues that is at stake in this election."
Harris is set to meet and debate her opponent Donald Trump — whose party has long opposed most gun control policies year after year of repeated mass shootings — for the first time on Tuesday, September 10. Guns were the leading cause of death for U.S. children between the ages of one and 19 in 2020 and 2021.
