Bidens travel to Texas on Sunday to mourn victims of school massacres

President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will travel to Uvalde, Texas, on Sunday to “mourn with the community” following Tuesday’s elementary school massacre, the White House said on Thursday.

Both the president and first lady confirmed they would travel to the Texas city on Wednesday, a day after a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School after shooting his grandmother.

“Jill and I will be traveling to Texas in the coming days to meet with the families and let them know that we have a feeling – just a feeling for their pain and hopefully the community some comfort in the shock, grief and bring trauma,” said Biden.

The President has called it “just plain wrong” that the suspected gunman, identified as Salvador Ramos, 18, was able to buy “weapons of war” just days before he blew up the school.

Officials have confirmed that Ramos legally purchased two AR-15 style semi-automatic weapons on his 18th birthday.

Confirmation of Biden’s Texas trip comes just nine days after the first couple traveled to Buffalo to visit a local supermarket where 10 black people were killed in a racially motivated mass shooting on May 14.

During Thursday’s daily press conference, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre expressed her sadness at the brutal killings.

“They were elementary school kids. They should lose their first teeth and not lose their lives. They should be at little league, softball and soccer practice this weekend,” she said. “These parents should be planning their children’s summers, not their child’s funeral. As a parent, it is inscrutable to me that this happened.”

“Schools should be havens of learning, not battlefields,” added Jean-Pierre. “And teachers should be there to educate, nurture, prepare and prepare our children for the future. Not being gunned down or being asked to sacrifice their own lives for the children they love.”

Jean-Pierre reiterated Biden’s push for gun control measures, insisting they “work, we know that.”

“As the President said this week, it is time to put that pain into action. It’s time for Congress to act,” she said.

As the Senate continued to push for specific bills that the Senate could take up, the press secretary said the White House wanted the chamber to move forward and legislate, but was “leaving the mechanics to the senator.” [Chuck] Schumer.”

Hours earlier, Schumer had announced that the Senate would not vote until early next month on two bills passed by the House that would expand background checks on potential gun buyers, and said negotiators from both parties needed time to put together a compromise bill.