Scott Statement on Uvalde Elementary School Shooting

NEWPORT NEWS, VA – Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03), the Chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor, issued the following statement in response to the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas:

"My heart is broken for the entire Uvalde community. Parents send their children to school with the basic expectation that they will come home safe at the end of the day. The Uvalde community sadly joins an unfortunately long list of other communities across our country to face such unspeakable atrocities — and less than two weeks since the horrific mass shooting in Buffalo. Yet not one new federal law has been enacted in response to any of those tragedies in order to prevent another.

"Too many politicians will offer up thoughts and prayers but will take no meaningful action. I refuse to accept this as the status quo. Look at the evidence. The United States is not an outlier for individuals suffering from mental illness. We are an outlier for mass shootings. Still we refuse to address the common denominator in all of these tragedies — guns.

"Since Democrats retook the majority in 2019, the House of Representatives has passed meaningful gun safety reforms. Sadly, there remain too many in the Senate who still refuse to pass legislation to address this national crisis. This latest tragedy must be the last. I remain committed to enacting comprehensive gun safety reform and I hope my colleagues will finally do something to help end this senseless violence."

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