WASHINGTON — Hoosier lawmakers are reacting to the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas that has now left 19 children and a teacher dead.
Congressman Andre Carson, a Democrat, says he’s “heartbroken by this horrific act of violence” and added the nation has “lost its way” by not changing gun laws.
Republican Congresswoman Victoria Spartz called the shooter a “coward” on Twitter. GOP Senator Mike Braun said he’s “horrified by this senseless murder.”
“We only had a total of 15 children in our emergency room this afternoon in relation to the incident that happened at the school,” said Uvalde Memorial Hospital CEO Thomas Nordwick. “13 of those children were alive. Three of those 15 were transferred to San Antonio for a higher level of care.”
Nordwick said two other victims at the hospital were “DOAs” or Dead On Arrival.
“We see it every night on the news that young people are accessing firearms and that young people are killing young people with firearms,” said Jennifer Haan with the Moms Demand Action Indiana Chapter. “That has to end.”
“The way that that ends is through strong gun policy that doesn’t punish the everyday gun owner that would like to have one for home protection. Gun laws that are based on common sense, and it is not common sense to have children shot and killed in a classroom.”
A Texas state senator says Romas bought two guns on his 18th birthday earlier this month. Democratic Senator Roland Gutierrez said he had been briefed by Texas Rangers and learned the guns purchased were the same ones used in the massacre.
Texas recently passed a law lowering the required age to buy a gun from 21 to 18.
