Vice President Kamala Harris was briefed on the mass shooting at a Georgia school on Wednesday, where at least four were killed and many others injured.
Speaking to a crowd in New Hampshire, Harris addressed the tragedy, telling the audience, "You know, I'm going off script right now, but listen..."
She talked about "our hearts" being with the "students, teachers, and families, of course, and we are grateful to the first responders and law enforcement." She then cited the often-used "prayers and thoughts."
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But she pivoted to tell the audience, "This is just a senseless tragedy. On top of so many senseless tragedies. And it's just outrageous, that every day 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.
"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."
"You know, it doesn't have to be this way. It doesn't have to be this way," she continued.
"I traveled our country, meeting with our young leaders. So it was college-aged young leaders, trade schools, colleges, universities," Harris said. "I'll tell you, one of the things that I asked every time I went to the auditorium, and it would be filled with these young leaders, students, and I'd ask them, raise your hand if at any point between kindergarten and 12th grade you had to endure an active shooter drill."
She said nearly every hand went up.
"I grew up in California, we had earthquake drills. We had fire drills. But 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.
'It does not have to be this way."
See the moment in the video below or at the link here.
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