Catch Up On Stories You Have Missed
A school shooting in Georgia, which took the lives of two students and two teachers, brought gun control to the forefront of the presidential election. While many children across the country were beginning the school year, those in Georgia have been in class for a month. But it doesn’t matter where children live or how long they’ve been in school, the specter of being injured, or killed, by someone wielding an automatic weapon is a constant worry and threat. Here are some of the stories that flooded the internet.
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump React to the Georgia Shooting
Vice President Kamala Harris was campaigning in New Hampshire and went off script to address the school shooting. Describing what happened she said, “It doesn’t have to be this way.” Her running mate, Tim Walz, making several stops in Pennsylvania, talked about how as a teacher he liked forward to the beginning of school. “Now for those kids, it’ll always be a time of sheer terror, and that’ll be a memory that they’ll hold forever,” he said.
Former President Trump and Senator JD Vance React to the Shooting
On the Republican side, both Trump and Vance, who have supported the gun industry, called for more security in schools as a way to prevent these shootings. (Just FYI, most schools have serious security and still have been unable to prevent these shootings.) But it was Vance’s comment that school shootings are “a fact of life,” that lit up the internet and brought condemnation from Harris and families who have suffered from these horrible events.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp Is Fact Checked on His Own Actions on Gun Control
Georgia’s Republican Governor Brian Kemp was quick to condemn the shooting. But critics were quick to note that he has done little to make Georgia’s schools safer. In 2022, surrounded by representatives from the gun industry, Kemp signed into law a bill allowing Georgians to carry guns in public without a license or background check.
Father of Georgia School Shooter Charged
Parents of school shooters can no longer declare they had no idea how their children got the guns that killed students and staff. After four students were killed in Oxford High School in Michigan, the prosecutor went after them. The parents of Ethan Crumbly were charged and convicted the in shooting deaths. Now Colin Gray, whose son killed four and injured nine people in a Georgia High School, has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder, four counts of involuntary manslaughter, and eight counts of cruelty to children.
For the Second Straight Year, Earth Experiences Its Hottest Sumer on Record
No, it’s not your imagination: this was a very, very hot summer, making it feel like Death Valley even on the East Coast. Climate change is another issue in the campaign, with Trump and Vance continuing to deny that the U.S. and other countries need to curb their carbon footprint. Scientists warn that even hotter days are ahead.
Key Aides to New York City Mayor Have Their Electronic Devices Taken
While Mayor Adams was not targeted in the raids, four high-ranking officials in his administration were. Their homes were raided and their electronics taken by federal investigators. The actions appear unrelated to another look-see into Adams’ 2021 campaign ties to the Turkish government.
Public Bathrooms in New York Found Closed, Dirty or Unsafe
The push to make public rest rooms available in the city appears to have hit a roadblock. A City Council investigation found the facilities were filled with trash, unsanitary, and lacking toilet paper. So plan your walks in the park carefully.
Top photo: Bigstock