At 7:48 p.m., President Joe Biden wrapped up his speech on gun violence in America, exhorting Congress to pass gun control laws.
“For God’s sake, how much more carnage are we willing to accept? How many more innocent American lives must be taken before we say ‘enough’? Enough,” he said.
Just three minutes later, 911 calls started coming in in Ames, Iowa.
There was another shooting.
Story County Sheriff’s Capt. Nicholas Lennie said three people were killed in a parking lot outside Ames’ Cornerstone Church on Thursday night, including one who was believed to be the shooter.
According to the Des Moines Register, the 911 calls came in as a “program was going on at church. The church hosts a regular Thursday evening event for its youth ministry, the Salt Company.”
Biden’s 15-minute speech comes after recent mass shootings have shaken the nation and renewed calls for Congress to finally do something on gun control.
Over the Memorial Day weekend, Biden went to Uvalde, Texas, where 21 people were killed at an elementary school on May 24. Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris went to Buffalo, New York, where a white gunman killed 10 Black people at a Tops supermarket on May 14.
And on Wednesday, the nation had at least three simultaneous shootings.
Biden on Thursday called on Congress to pass gun control measures, including universal background check legislation, a ban on assault weapons, a national “red flag” law to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill, a proposal raising the age to buy a gun to 21 and the repeal of a liability shield for gun manufacturers.
But so far Republicans have opposed any measures that restrict gun ownership, and they’ve refused to acknowledge that easy access to guns is a problem. Instead, they’ve blamed mass shootings on buildings having too many doors, liberal teachers, fatherless households and not enough God in people’s lives.
In fact, according to some Republican members of Congress, laws restricting access to guns are useless because criminals will just break the law anyway ― an argument that calls into question whether they believe there should be any laws, on any issue.