Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
It’s so upsetting.. and the answer is not more guns
Andy slams US firearm laws
SIR Andy Murray has hit out at US gun laws following the Texas school massacre.
The former Wimbledon champion, 35, said he was upset by the deaths of 19 children and two teachers in the shooting at Robb Elementary School.
Andy was a pupil at Dunblane Primary School in March 1996 when 16 children and a teacher were murdered by gunman Thomas Hamilton.
He said: “I think there’s been over 200 mass shootings in
America this year and nothing changes. I can’t understand that.
“You can’t keep approaching the problem by having more guns in the country. I don’t see how that solves it.”
The massacre in Uvalde on May 24 provoked more calls for gun control measures.
Senior Republicans have already expressed their opposition to tighter rules on gun ownership, such as background checks. Texas senator Ted Cruz accused Democrats of seeking to “politicise” the shooting
Murray believes that changes need to happen. “Surely at some stage you do something different,” he told the BBC.
He added: “I heard the radio and it was a child from that school. I experienced a similar thing at Dunblane. A teacher coming out and waving at all of the children, telling them to go and hide under tables. And it was a kid telling the same story about how she survived it.
“They were saying that they go through these drills, as young children, at seven, eight.
“How? How is it normal that children should be having to go through drills, in case someone comes into a school with a gun? I don’t get it – it’s upsetting and I hope they make some changes.”
The US Department of Justice says it will investigate the police response to the mass shooting.