Biden calls Nashville school shooting ‘sick,’ calls on Congress to pass assault weapons ban

Speaking at an unrelated White House event on Monday, President Biden addressed the shooting at a Nashville private Christian grade school earlier in the day that left three children and four adults, including the shooter, dead. Biden said the shooting was “sick” and repeated his call for Congress to pass an assault weapons ban.

Video Transcript

JOE BIDEN: I just want to speak very briefly about the school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee. You know, Ben and I have been doing this our whole career, as it seems, and it's just-- it's sick. We're still gathering the facts of what happened and why. And we do know that, as of now, there are a number of people who are not gonna-- did not make it, including children.

It's heartbreaking, a family's worst nightmare. And I want to commend the police who responded incredibly swiftly, within minutes, and the danger. We're monitoring the situation really closely, Ben, as you know.

And we have to do more to stop gun violence. It's ripping our communities apart, ripping the soul of this nation, ripping at the very soul of the nation. And we have to do more to protect our schools so they aren't turned into prisons.

The shooter in this situation reportedly had two assault weapons and a pistol, two AK-47. So I call on Congress again to pass my assault weapons ban. It's about time that we begin to make some more progress. But there's more to learn. But I just wanted to send my concern and hearts out to so many parents out there.