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What could be done after Texas school shooting? SC’s Graham says ‘let’s debate and vote’

South Carolina’s senior U.S. senator said Tuesday night he welcomes a debate over what to do next that his “colleagues believe will have an effect” in response to the Texas mass shooting that left 19 elementary school students and two teachers dead.

A gunman, age 18, shot and killed at least 19 children and two adults Tuesday afternoon in what is being described as the deadliest school shooting since a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, almost a decade ago.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Tuesday the shooter, shot and killed by law enforcement who responded to the scene, entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde with a handgun and possibly a rifle.

The Texas mass shooting comes a little more than a week after a racist gunman entered a Buffalo, New York, supermarket and killed 10 people.

People react outside the Civic Center following a deadly school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas Tuesday, May 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)
People react outside the Civic Center following a deadly school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas Tuesday, May 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)

“Why someone would kill elementary age children in school and shoot their own grandmother, I don’t know. We are all heartbroken for the families and friends impacted by this senseless act of violence in #Uvalde,” U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., posted in a two-part tweet Tuesday night.

“Hopefully over time we will have a better understanding of what led to these senseless acts. As to what to do next, I welcome a debate in the U.S. Senate about any and all measures that my colleagues believe will have an effect. Let’s debate and vote.”

Flags atop the State House in South Carolina will be lowered to half-staff until sunset May 28, and the governor’s office tweeted that Gov. Henry McMaster has requested that flags over state buildings and political subdivisions also be lowered until then.

“Tonight, please join Peggy and me in praying for the Uvalde community, the faculty and staff at Robb Elementary, and for the families of the victims of today’s tragedy,” McMaster tweeted.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.