On gun violence, Vance presses for school security while Walz emphasizes commitment to Second Amendment

Asked about American gun violence at their vice presidential debate on Tuesday, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) backed increased security at schools while Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) emphasized that solutions need to respect Second Amendment rights.

Vance first brought up school security after he was asked if parents should face charges for gun crimes committed by their children. He said it would depend on the situation if parents should be responsible, then added, “I don’t want my kids to go to school in a school that feels unsafe.” 

“I, unfortunately, think that we have to increase security in our schools. We have to make the doors lock better. We have to make the doors stronger. We’ve got to make the windows stronger, and, of course, we’ve got to increase school resource officers, because the idea that we can magically wave a wand and [get the] guns out of the hands of bad guys” isn’t realistic, the senator said.  

Walz argued that there are clear solutions that work, as other countries, such as Finland, do not see the school shootings the U.S. experiences. He spoke about his personal experience as a gun owner, alluded to Vice President Harris’s gun ownership and said solutions aren’t about taking guns away from law-abiding citizens.

“They don’t have this happen. Even though they have a high gun ownership rate in the country, there are reasonable things that we can do to make a difference. It’s not infringing on your Second Amendment. And the idea to have some of these weapons out there, it just doesn’t make any sense,” Walz said.  

The governor also rebuffed the idea of making schools look like a “fort.” 

“Is that where we have to go, when we know there’s countries around the world that their children aren’t practicing these types of drills? They’re being kids. We owe it to them to get a fix,” Walz said.