GiaQuinta statement on Texas school shooting

INDIANAPOLIS - House Democratic Leader Phil GiaQuinta released the following statement in response to the news that an 18-year-old shooter murdered 19 children and two teachers in an Uvalde, Texas elementary school yesterday afternoon: 

“I am heartbroken and angry that yet another community has been robbed. Robbed of its children, robbed of its educators, robbed of its safety, robbed of its future. Because the Indiana Republican supermajority has stripped reasonable safeguards from our gun laws, it is objectively a question of when – not if – Indiana will experience the senseless carnage of a mass shooting at a school on our soil. 

“Despite our efforts, and the efforts of law enforcement officers who spoke out against it, Indiana Republicans eliminated the permit requirement to own a handgun earlier this year. This legislation will make it easier for these horrifying acts of violence to be carried out.

“You shouldn’t be afraid to go to school, the grocery store or places of worship. But now, that is an utterly rational fear. We cannot bring back those we have lost, but we can and should do everything in our power to prevent more lives from being taken. Instead of taking these steps, the supermajority has actively undermined gun violence prevention.”