Democrat President Joe Biden does not support “hardening schools” as a means of protecting children from mass shooters, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Monday.
The comments from Jean-Pierre come after an 18-year-old Latino male murdered 19 children at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, last week.
“I know there’s been conversation about hardening schools,” she said. “That is not something that he believes in. He believes that we should be able to give teachers the resources to be able to do the job that they’re meant to do at schools.”
WATCH:
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre says proposals that deal with "hardening schools…is not something that" President Biden "believes in" b/c "the problem is with guns" in America. pic.twitter.com/l19Mo0Yw3h
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 31, 2022
The man who shot up the school in Uvalde “walked in unobstructed,” Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Regional Director Victor Escalon said. “So from the grandmother’s house, to the (ditch), to the school, into the school, he was not confronted by anybody.”
Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said that the school resource officer was not inside the school when the attack happened.
Jean-Pierre also said during the press conference that “background checks” were needed to “make sure that our communities are protected” and to make sure “that our children are not going to school feeling unsafe.”
The man who attacked the elementary school in Texas last week passed a background when he purchased the weapons that he used.
Approximately 80 federal agents had responded to the shooting last Tuesday but were instructed by local law enforcement to wait and not go after the attacker.
“After approximately 30 minutes passed, however, the federal agents opted of their own volition to lead the ‘stack’ of officers inside the school and take down the shooter,” NBC News reported.
A source told the network that the breaking point for the federal agents was when they saw that parents were trying to get into the building themselves to pull their children out.
Latino Border Patrol agent Jacob Albarado had just sat down for a haircut when his wife, who was a teacher at Robb Elementary School, texted him and told him what was happening and asked him for help.
“There’s an active shooter,” she said. “Help. I love you.”
The New York Times reported that Albarado’s barber gave him a shotgun and that Albarado then ran out of the barbershop and sped to the school.
This report has been updated to include additional information.