EDITORS/NEWS DIRECTORS:
The Associated Press is offering video of the following senators commenting on Monday's deadly shooting at a private Christian school in Nashville. Use it on your broadcasts, websites, social media platforms and elsewhere.
ILLINOIS: Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin
CONNECTICUT: Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal
SOUTH CAROLINA: Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham
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GET THE VIDEO:
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Democratic senators whose home states have been affected by mass shootings are reacting to a deadly shooting at small, private Christian school in Nashville.
Six people were killed Monday after a shooter opened fire inside the building of about 200 students.
On Capitol Hill Tuesday, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said the issue of mass shootings is uniquely American. Durbin's state was home to the Highland Park shooting last July.
“The people of this country have to ask themselves a basic question: Had enough? Had enough for sending your children and grandchildren to school and wondering if they’re going to be victims of assault rifles?" he said. “I mean, this is madness. To think that some people rationalize this as part of the Second Amendment is beyond me. I can’t believe our founding fathers would make America sign a suicide pact.”
Meanwhile, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., whose state saw the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in December 2012, said it’s time for a national ban on assault weapons.
“The carnage, the mass murder, the killings must be stopped. And we know the answer: The ban on assault weapons in Connecticut shows that these measures work. Inaction won’t work for America anymore,” Blumenthal said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., echoed what the majority of his party has been saying about furthering security in schools across the country.
“I think the best thing we could have done is had some cops in that school when she shot the place up. I think the best thing I learned from this is that every school in America needs a resource officer because she literally blew the place apart to get in, and there was nobody there to protect the kids,” Graham said.
