Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., blasted White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday, calling her comment that blamed GOP lawmakers for The Covenant School shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, "shameful."
"It doesn't get much lower than blaming Republicans in Congress for a transgender killer who targeted a Christian school," Cotton tweeted Tuesday morning in response to Jean-Pierre's appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "Shameful."
Jean-Pierre said, "What I will say to Republicans in Congress is, ‘What are you going to say to these parents? What are you going to say to these family members?' … We cannot sit around to allow this anymore."
"It's enough," she said. "Enough, enough. This president has taken more executive actions on gun violence safety than any president before him, and he's done that in two years."
"But guess what?" she continued. "As we're seeing, we need to do more. And I've heard this theme throughout the show this morning, which is courage. We need Republicans in Congress to show some courage. This is what they owe these parents. This is what they owe these family members who are losing their loved ones. They need to show courage."
"We need gun safety laws, comprehensive gun safety laws," she added. "We need to ban assault rifles. Those weapons of war do not belong in our streets. They do not belong in schools."
President Joe Biden called on Congress to pass an assault weapons ban after six people, including three children, were shot dead at the Christian school in Nashville on Monday.
The heavily armed, 28-year-old shooter was reportedly a former student of the private school and was fatally shot by officers at the scene. The suspect was identified as Audrey Elizabeth Hale who identified as a man, according to Nashville Police. She had at least two semi-automatic rifles and a handgun, police said.
Although authorities did not immediately offer a motive for the killings, Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake said investigators believe Hale harbored "some resentment for having to go to that school."
Biden, a Democrat, has repeatedly called for a renewed assault weapons ban and more stringent regulations on gun sales; Congress would need to pass such measures.
Monday's violence marked the 90th school shooting in the United States this year, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database, a website founded by researcher David Riedman. Last year, there were 303 such incidents recorded in the database — the highest of any year — which dates to 1970.
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