Vice President Harris and I have been briefed on the horrific tragedy that took place this morning in San Jose, where a lone gunman murdered at least eight people and wounded several others at a county rail yard.
We are still awaiting many of the details of this latest mass shooting, but there are some things we know for sure. There are at least eight families who will never be whole again. There are children, parents, and spouses who are waiting to hear whether someone they love is ever going to come home. There are union brothers and sisters—good, honest, hard-working people—who are mourning their own.
I have the solemn duty of yet again of ordering the flag to be lowered at half-staff, just weeks after doing so following the mass shootings at spas in and around Atlanta; in a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado; at a home in Rock Hill, South Carolina; and at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Enough.
Once again, I urge Congress to take immediate action and heed the call of the American people, including the vast majority of gun owners, to help end this epidemic of gun violence in America. Every life that is taken by a bullet pierces the soul of our Nation. We can, and we must, do more.
God bless all those whose lives were lost today, and all those who loved them.
NOTE: The statement referred to Samuel James Cassidy, suspected gunman in the shooting at a Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority light rail yard in San Jose, CA; and Abdolvahab Alaghmandan, Adrian Balleza, Alex W. Fritch, Jose Hernandez III, Lars K. Lane, Paul D. Megia, Timothy M. Romo, Michael J. Rudometkin, and Taptejdeep Singh, who were killed in the shooting.
Joseph R. Biden, Statement on the Shooting in San Jose, California Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/350093