Biden: Nation owes school shooting victims ‘action’

WASHINGTON — In a video released Tuesday, President Joe Biden spoke directly to the families of those killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School nine years ago, saying the nation owed families of mass shootings “more than our prayers. We owe them action.”

“No matter how long it’s been, every one of those families relives the news they got that day,” Biden said in the video. “Twenty precious first graders, six heroic educators, a lone gunman and an unconscionable act of violence. Everything changed that morning for you. And the nation was shocked.”

A gunman killed 20 first-grade students and six educators inside Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14, 2012. The 20-year-old shooter, Adam Lanza, killed his mother at their Newtown home before the massacre, then killed himself as police arrived at the school.

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont called for flags to be lowered to half-staff across the state Tuesday in remembrance of the 26 people killed inside the school.

“We will never forget the twenty innocent children and six devoted educators whose lives were taken all too soon that terrible morning,” said Lamont, a Democrat.

Biden pointed to executive action he’s taken to stop the spread of so-called ghost guns and promote safe firearms storage. He also hopes communities use some of the money from the massive spending plan to help end gun violence.

So far, Justice Department strike forces focusing on gun trafficking corridors in several cities — part of the administration’s comprehensive approach to combat surging gun violence — have led to the recovery of about 2,000 crime guns, the official said.