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JD Vance says he laments that school shootings are a 'fact of life' and calls for better security

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JD Vance says he laments that school shootings are a 'fact of life' and calls for better security
News

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JD Vance says he laments that school shootings are a 'fact of life' and calls for better security

2024-09-06 11:22 Last Updated At:11:31

PHOENIX (AP) — Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance said Thursday that he lamented that school shootings are a “fact of life" and argued the U.S. needs to harden security to prevent more carnage like the shooting this week that left four dead in Georgia.

“If these psychos are going to go after our kids we’ve got to be prepared for it,” Vance said at a rally in Phoenix. “We don’t have to like the reality that we live in, but it is the reality we live in. We’ve got to deal with it.”

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Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024 in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024 in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, gestures to supporters at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, gestures to supporters at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, arrives to speak at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, arrives to speak at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, gestures to supporters at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, gestures to supporters at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024 in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024 in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

The Ohio senator was asked by a journalist what can be done to stop school shootings. He said further restricting access to guns, as many Democrats advocate, won’t end them, noting they happen in states with both lax and strict gun laws. He touted efforts in Congress to give schools more money for security.

“I don’t like that this is a fact of life,” Vance said. “But if you are a psycho and you want to make headlines, you realize that our schools are soft targets. And we have got to bolster security at our schools. We’ve got to bolster security so if a psycho wants to walk through the front door and kill a bunch of children they’re not able.”

Vance said he doesn't like the idea of his own kids going to a school with hardened security, “but that's increasingly the reality that we live in.”

He called the shooting in Georgia an “awful tragedy," and said the families in Winder, Georgia, need prayers and sympathy.

Earlier this year, Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, toured the bloodstained Florida classroom building where the 2018 Parkland high school massacre happened. She then announced a program to assist states that have laws allowing police to temporarily seize guns from people judges have found to be dangerous.

Harris, who leads the new White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, has supported both stronger gun controls, such as banning sales of AR-15 and similar rifles, and better school security, like making sure classroom doors don't lock from the outside as they did in Parkland.

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024 in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024 in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, gestures to supporters at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, gestures to supporters at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, arrives to speak at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, arrives to speak at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, gestures to supporters at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, gestures to supporters at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024 in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024 in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

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Hezbollah leader says more Israelis will be displaced as it expands attacks

2024-10-08 17:13 Last Updated At:17:20

BEIRUT (AP) — Hezbollah’s acting leader says more Israelis will be displaced as the militant group expands its rocket fire deeper into Israel.

In a defiant statement televised on Tuesday, acting leader Sheikh Naim Kassem said Hezbollah's capabilities are still intact despite weeks of heavy Israeli airstrikes and that it has replaced slain commanders.

A man shows a burnt car to a girl, after a rocket launched from Lebanon, hit an area in Kfar Vradim, northern Israel, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

A man shows a burnt car to a girl, after a rocket launched from Lebanon, hit an area in Kfar Vradim, northern Israel, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

A man walks as smoke rises from destroyed buildings at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Choueifat, southeast of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A man walks as smoke rises from destroyed buildings at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Choueifat, southeast of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

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