Healing America - Manifesting Healing and Light in the United States of America (ePub)

A teenage gunman has killed at least 19 children and two adults after storming into an elementary school in Texas, the latest bout of mass killings in the United States, and the nation's worst school shooting since Sandy Hook a decade ago.

The massacre took place at the Robb elementary school in Uvalde, a town about 80 miles west of San Antonio; where the teenage gunman launched a rampage that killed 19 children.

Law enforcement officers "engaged" the suspect when they saw him emerge from his crashed vehicle carrying a rifle and a handgun. But the gunman nevertheless managed to charge into the school building and open fire.

Speaking from the White House hours later, US President Biden urged Americans to stand up to the politically powerful American gun lobby, which he blamed for blocking enactment of tougher firearms safety laws.

"As a nation, we have to ask, 'When in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?'" President Biden said, suggesting reinstating a ban on assault-style weapons and other "common sense gun laws".

Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, criticized some in Congress for offering "hollow words after shootings while opposing all efforts to save lives", adding: "It is time for all in Congress to heed the will of the American people and join in enacting the House-passed bipartisan, common sense, life-saving legislation into law."

"We're devastated by this horrific act of gun violence that will forever traumatize the Uvalde community," said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, a grassroots organization. "School shootings are not acts of nature, they're man-made acts of inaction, of cowardice, of corruption by all lawmakers who refuse to pass laws proven by data to stop preventable, senseless shootings like in Uvalde. We cannot and will not accept a reality in which our children aren't safe in schools or their communities."

Rena Estala, a volunteer with the Texas chapter of Students Demand Action, said in a statement: "We are heartbroken for everyone impacted by this senseless act of violence in a predominantly Latinx community. School is the last place where kids should have to worry about gun violence. We need leaders at every level to prioritize gun safety now."

Hence it's imperative that gun safety is implemented in the US. Lawmakers refusing to prioritize gun safety - and lacking the backbone to stand up to the American gun lobby - are complicit in killing innocent children in the US and violating the UNCRC.