OAN Staff Abril Elfi
10:08 PM – Tuesday, October 1, 2024
Tim Walz revealed during the vice presidential debate that his son witnessed a shooting, leading JD Vance to offer his sympathy.
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Walz (D-Minn.) said that his son Gus witnessed a shooting at a community center while playing volleyball.
“I think all the parents watching tonight, this is just your biggest nightmare,” Walz said.
“Look, I got a 17-year-old, and he witnessed a shooting at a community center playing volleyball,” Walz revealed. “Those things don’t leave you.”
Vance (R-Ohio) said “Awful” into the mic as Walz described his son’s traumatic experience and offered his sympathy.
“First of all, I didn’t know that your 17-year-old witnessed a shooting. I’m sorry about that,” Vance replied.
“I’m sorry about that. Christ have mercy,” the father of three said. “It is awful. And I appreciate what Tim said.”
Walz went on to say that if the U.S. wants to stop school shootings they should look up to Finland.
“They don’t have this happen,” the Minnesota governor said. “Even though they have a high gun-ownership rate in the country, there are reasonable things that we can do to make a difference.
“No one’s trying to scaremonger and say, ‘We’re taking your guns.’” Walz argued. “But I ask all of you out there, do you want your schools hardened to look like a fort? Is that what we have to do when we know there’s countries around the world that their children aren’t practicing these types of drills? They’re being kids. We owe it to them to get it fixed.”
On the other hand, Vance noted that a large percentage of gun violence “is committed with illegally obtained firearms” and suggested that less illegal immigration could curb gun-related crime.
“We know that thanks to Kamala Harris’s open border, we’ve seen a massive influx in the number of illegal guns run by the Mexican drug cartel,” he said. “So that number then, the amount of illegal guns in our country, is higher today than it was three and a half years ago.”
He also went on to call for schools to have more protection and up their security levels.
“We have to make the doors lock better. We have to make the door stronger. We’ve got to make the windows stronger, and of course, we’ve got to increase school resource officers,” he said.
“Because the idea that we can magically wave a wand and take guns out of the hands of bad guys, it just doesn’t fit with recent experience.”
Vance concluded by stating that addressing the “mental health crisis in this country” could reduce school shootings.
“I don’t think it’s the whole reason why we have such a bad gun violence problem, but I do think it’s a big piece of it,” Vance said.
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