JD Vance Responds To Reporter's Question About Apalachee High School Shooting

At a Trump-Vance 2024 campaign rally in Phoenix, Arizona, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) answered a question about the shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia.

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[gerrycooper]

Dad gave gun to kid, kid uses gun. Parent responsible for actions of own child.

[newhorizon]

Imagine FBI interviewing your child, about violent threats; but you get the bright idea to gift them a weapon.

[jamesw]

The world needs a cultural shift to nonviolence and reject any leaders that believe violence is a solution to problems and ingrain in our children that violence is never acceptable and lead by example.

[liquidlou]

Schools should take action when a PARENT CALLS and tell you it is an emergency you need to get my kid. He may do something terrible. He has a gun. 30 minutes before shooting starts

[davidmackey]

What I would like to know is how the heck did this punk walk up to and walk into the school carrying a AR-15 without being seen, let alone being challenged. You can't hide a AR-15, in just any book bag. The fater deserves to be arrested for giving a 14 year old a AR, and not keep it locked up properly!

[DiscoVette]

Oddly the AR-15 has not changed since it was released in 1959. Yet school shootings are a far more recent issue. If the AR-15 has not changed, what has changed? Break up of the family unit, social media, bullying made worse by the internet, mental health issues, video games desensitizing youth to violence etc... Could we use more security at schools, yes, of course. However we need to focus on the root causes not the tool. The reality is if you banned the AR-15, this troubled teen would have used a rifle, or hand gun. If you banned all guns, he would have made a pressure cooker bomb, or brought a machete. Evil will do Evil. I'm a strong second amendment supporter, however I am okay with back ground checks, waiting (cool down) periods and much stronger sentences for gun crimes, including charges for those that allow their guns to be used by others to commit crimes. But I am not okay with any sort of a ban or limitation on how many or which firearms you may own. When I was in high school, kids had rifles in the back window of their pick up trucks. Not one person was shot. Something has changed, and it's not guns.

[lincoln]

The shooter was STOPPED by an ARMED guard. That's the end solution, making schools a Hard Target will deter most pschos.
But this guy SHOULD have been stopped. He was on the FBI watchlist for making threats last year, and there was a call to the school in the morning saying that a shooting was going to happen and NOTHING was enacted to stop it. I understand verifying threats as legitimate before locking down, BUT knowing the FBI and local law enforcement had ALREADY contacted this individual, should have been enough to post lookouts and patrol the grounds.

[wise]

It would be great id instead of sending money to countries for weapons, or spending billions on illegals, how about paying for more mental health programs in schools?

[Ray.J]

School resource officers definitely help and are a deterrent. My youngest daughter is currently teaching in a local high school which has an armed resource officer on literally every level of the school. On one hand, it seems a shame they are deemed necessary on every floor, but I can't lie, as a parent of a teacher it makes me feel much better. Reality is we have to be aware and take the initiative to thwart potential incidents from happening.

[Ozymandi_as]

A generation of Americans has grown up being traumatized by gun violence in schools. What has that done to their mental health? People habituated to threat of violence are more likely to be violent themselves. This has become a cyclical problem.

[fistflurry]

Having school resource officers from the local police department is huge. I wish every school had at last 1 on duty police officer. One of the agencies I used to work for had 1-2 Deputies at every school in the county. But it was also a high crime county.

[genev]

One question is why this doesn’t happen in other countries nearly as often. Another question is why this generally never happened before 25-30 years ago in this country. Both are valid questions that need to be addressed

[StopMessingWithThis]

Secure public schools with guards to prevent shootings and create a higher security within the public school system, make sure they do a background check on those security guards they are hiring

[michaelwoodruff]

Amen! Protect our kids as much as our politicians and money, security security security!

[therongray]

Great answer, On Bolstering
Our school Entrances, by stopping the aggressiveness.

[TCsGirl]

Prayers for my community, state, and country from Good Hope, GA

[grannyblinda]

I like this man’s style … great balance, diplomatic but firm … so enjoy just listening to him handle the press, express himself, , ,

[davidharleyjr]

Increased school security nationwide as well as making guidance counselors and therapists as accessible as normal teachers, almost mandatory

[Zfactor]

Reminder to everyone that its illegal to kill people and its also illegal for a 14 year old to have a gun, if both of those still happen, laws arent going to stop it

[Neverendingbruhmoment]

“Oh no what a preventable tragedy” - only country in the world where this regularly happens