JD Vance says he laments that school shootings are a 'fact of life' and calls for better security

PHOENIX (AP) — Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance said Thursday that he lamented that school shootings are a “fact of life" and argued the U.S. needs to harden security to prevent more carnage like the shooting this week that left four dead in Georgia.

“If these psychos are going to go after our kids we’ve got to be prepared for it,” Vance said at a rally in Phoenix. “We don’t have to like the reality that we live in, but it is the reality we live in. We’ve got to deal with it.”

The Ohio senator was asked by a journalist what can be done to stop school shootings. He said further restricting access to guns, as many Democrats advocate, won’t end them, noting they happen in states with both lax and strict gun laws. He touted efforts in Congress to give schools more money for security.

“I don’t like that this is a fact of life,” Vance said. “But if you are a psycho and you want to make headlines, you realize that our schools are soft targets. And we have got to bolster security at our schools. We’ve got to bolster security so if a psycho wants to walk through the front door and kill a bunch of children they’re not able.”

Vance said he doesn't like the idea of his own kids going to a school with hardened security, “but that's increasingly the reality that we live in.”

He called the shooting in Georgia an “awful tragedy," and said the families in Winder, Georgia, need prayers and sympathy.

Earlier this year, Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, toured the bloodstained Florida classroom building where the 2018 Parkland high school massacre happened. She then announced a program to assist states that have laws allowing police to temporarily seize guns from people judges have found to be dangerous.

Harris, who leads the new White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, has supported both stronger gun controls, such as banning sales of AR-15 and similar rifles, and better school security, like making sure classroom doors don't lock from the outside as they did in Parkland.

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024 in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, gestures to supporters at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, arrives to speak at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, gestures to supporters at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024 in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

MAGDEBURG, Germany (AP) — Germany on Saturday was still in shock and struggling to understand the suspect behind the attack in the city of Magdeburg.

Identified by local media as 50-year-old Taleb A., a psychiatry and psychotherapy specialist, authorities said he has been living in Germany for two decades. He was arrested on site after plowing a black BMW into a Christmas market crowded with holiday shoppers Friday evening, killing at least five people and wounding about 200 others.

Prominent German terrorism expert Peter Neumann posted on X that he had yet to come across a suspect in an act of mass violence with that profile.

Taleb’s X account is filled with tweets and retweets focusing on anti-Islam themes and criticism of the religion while sharing congratulatory notes to Muslims who left the faith. He also described himself as a former Muslim.

He was critical of German authorities, saying they had failed to do enough to combat the “Islamism of Europe.”

He has also voiced support for the far-right and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Some described Taleb as an activist who helped Saudi women flee their homeland. Recently, he seemed focused on his theory that German authorities have been targeting Saudi asylum seekers.

Neumann, the terrorism expert, wrote: “After 25 years in this ‘business’ you think nothing could surprise you anymore. But a 50-year-old Saudi ex-Muslim who lives in East Germany, loves the AfD and wants to punish Germany for its tolerance towards Islamists — that really wasn’t on my radar."

A person stands by flowers and candles placed outside St. John's Church near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)