On Thursday night, Kamala Harris officially accepted the Democratic nomination for president. Then she spoke to the nation about her background, her differences with her opponent, and her vision for the country. Here, from The New York Times, is what she said:
My fellow Americans, I’m speaking to you tonight from behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. In this sacred space, I’m surrounded by portraits of extraordinary American presidents. Thomas Jefferson wrote the immortal words that guide this nation. George Washington, who showed us presidents are not kings. Abraham Lincoln, who implored us to reject malice. Franklin Roosevelt, who inspired us to reject fear.
I revere this office, but I love my country more.
It’s been the honor of my life to serve as your president. But in the defense of democracy, which is at stake, I think it’s more important than any title.
I draw strength and I find joy in working for the American people, but this sacred task of perfecting our union is not about me. It’s about you, your families, your futures. It’s about we the people, and we can never forget that. And I never have.
I’ve made it clear that I believe America is at an inflection point, one of those rare moments in history when the decisions we make now will determine our fate of our nation and the world for decades to come.
America is going to have to choose between moving forward or backward, between hope and hate, between unity and division. We have to decide, do we still believe in honesty, decency, respect, freedom, justice and democracy? In this moment, we can see those we disagree with not as enemies, but as fellow Americans. Can we do that? Does character in public life still matter?
I believe you know the answer to these questions because I know you, the American people, and I know this, we are a great nation because we are a good people.
When you elected me to this office, I promised to always level with you, to tell you the truth. And the truth, the sacred cause of this country, is larger than any one of us, and those of us who cherish that cause cherish it so much, a cause of American democracy itself must unite to protect it.
You know, in recent weeks it’s become clear to me that I needed to unite my party in this critical endeavor. I believe my record as president, my leadership in the world, my vision for America’s future all merited a second term, but nothing, nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy, and that includes personal ambition.
So I’ve decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. That’s the best way to unite our nation. I know there is a time and a place for long years of experience in public life, but there’s also a time and a place for new voices, fresh voices, yes, younger voices, and that time and place is now.
Over the next six months, I’ll be focused on doing my job as president. That means I’ll continue to lower costs for hard-working families, grow our economy. I’ll keep defending our personal freedoms and our civil rights, from the right to vote to the right to choose. I’ll keep calling out hate and extremism, make it clear there is no place, no place in America for political violence or any violence ever, period. I’m going to keep speaking out to protect our kids from gun violence, our planet from climate crisis, is the existential threat.
And I will keep fighting for my for my cancer moonshot, so we can end cancer as we know it because we can do it. And I’m going to call for Supreme Court reform because this is critical to our democracy, Supreme Court reform. You know, I will keep working to ensure America remains strong and secure and the leader of the free world.
I’m the first president in this century to report to the American people that the United States is not at war anywhere in the world. We’ll keep rallying a coalition of proud nations to stop Putin from taking over Ukraine and doing more damage. We’ll keep NATO stronger, and I’ll make it more powerful and more united than at any time in all of our history. I’ll keep doing the same for allies in the Pacific.
You know, when I came to office, the conventional wisdom was that China would inevitably surpass the United States. That’s not the case anymore. And I’m going to keep working to end the war in Gaza, bring home all the hostages and bring peace and security to the Middle East and end this war.
We’re also working around the clock to bring home Americans being unjustly detained all around the world. You know, we’ve come so far since my inauguration. On that day, I told you as I stood in that winter — we stood in a winter of peril and a winter of possibilities, peril and possibilities. We were in the grip of the worst pandemic in the century, the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War, but we came together as Americans, and we got through it. We emerged stronger, more prosperous and more secure.
Today, we have the strongest economy in the world, creating nearly 16 million new jobs — a record. Wages are up, inflation continues to come down, the racial wealth gap is the lowest it’s been in 20 years. We’re literally rebuilding our entire nation, urban, suburban, rural and tribal communities. Manufacturing has come back to America.
We’re leading the world again in chips and science and innovation. We finally beat Big Pharma after all these years, to lower the cost of prescription drugs for seniors, and I’m going to keep fighting to make sure we lower the cost for everyone, not just seniors.
More people have health care today in America than ever before. And I signed one of the most significant laws helping millions of veterans and their families who were exposed to toxic materials. You know, the most significant climate law ever, ever in the history of the world, the first major gun safety law in 30 years. And today, violent crime rate is at a 50-year low.
We’re also securing our border. Border crossings are lower today than when the previous administration left office. And I’ve kept my commitment to appoint the first Black woman to the Supreme Court of the United States of America. I also kept my commitment to have an administration that looks like America and be a president for all Americans.
That’s what I’ve done. I ran for president four years ago because I believed, and still do, that the soul of America was at stake. The very nature of who we are was at stake and that’s still the case. America is an idea, an idea stronger than any army, bigger than any ocean, more powerful than any dictator or tyrant.
It’s the most powerful idea in the history of the world. That idea is that we hold these truths to be self-evident. We’re all created equal, endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights, life, liberty, pursuit of happiness. We’ve never fully lived up to it, to this sacred idea, but we’ve never walked away from it either and I do not believe the American people will walk away from it now.
In just a few months, the American people will choose the course of America’s future. I made my choice. I made my views known. I would like to thank our great Vice President Kamala Harris. She’s experienced, she’s tough, she’s capable. She’s been an incredible partner to me and a leader for our country. Now the choice is up to you, the American people.
When you make that choice, remember the words of Benjamin Franklin. It’s hanging on my wall here in the Oval Office, alongside the bust of Dr. King and Rosa Parks and Cesar Chavez. When Ben Franklin was asked as he emerged from the convention going on, whether the founders have given America a monarchy or republic, Franklin’s response was “a republic, if you can keep it.” A republic if you can keep it. Whether we keep our republic is now in your hands.
My fellow Americans, it’s been the privilege of my life to serve this nation for over 50 years. Nowhere else on earth could a kid with a stutter from modest beginnings in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Claymont, Delaware, one day sit behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office as President of the United States, but here I am. That’s what’s so special about America.
We are a nation of promise and possibilities, of dreamers and doers, of ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things. I’ve given my heart and my soul to our nation, like so many others. I’ve been blessed a million times in return with the love and support of the American people. I hope you have some idea how grateful I am to all of you.
The great thing about America is here kings and dictators do not rule, the people do. History is in your hands. The power is in your hands. The idea of America lies in your hands. We just have to keep faith, keep the faith and remember who we are. We’re the United States of America and there’s simply nothing, nothing beyond our capacity when we do it together.
So let’s act together, preserve our democracy. God bless you all and may God protect our troops. Thank you.
TRUMP CLAIM: Trump argued there was "a massive invasion at our southern border that has spread misery, crime, poverty, disease and destruction to communities all across our land."
FACT CHECK: This is false. There is no evidence of a major surge in crime caused by recent arrivals and Trump's claims ignore the fact that crime is down across the country overall.
TRUMP CLAIM: Trump said he would end the immigration crisis "by closing our border and finishing the wall, most of which I have already built.
FACT CHECK: False. Contrary to Trump’s claim that he built more than 500 miles of border wall, by the end of his term, and after various funding fights in Washington, he had actually implemented roughly 450 miles of barriers – much of which was just upgrading existing barriers that already existed, according to the Government Accountability Office.
TRUMP CLAIM: While discussing the border and immigration, Trump said his administration "ended all catch-and-release."
FACT CHECK: False, needs more context. Though Trump attempted to end the catch-and-release practice under his presidency, migrants were more likely to be "released" through this process under Trump compared to Biden, according to the libertarian Cato Institute. The Cato analysis found that Biden’s immigration authorities released 48.6% of individuals apprehended at the border, while the Trump administration released 52.2% over roughly a two-year period.
TRUMP CLAIM: Trump has repeatedly claimed the tax legislation passed during his presidency was the largest tax cut ever.
FACT CHECK: Needs more explanation. Trump’s tax cut was, in inflation-adjusted dollars, the fourth-largest since 1940. And as a percentage of GDP, it ranked seventh.
TRUMP CLAIM: During his presidency, Trump said the U.S. had the best economy in the history of our country, "no inflation" and soaring incomes.
FACT CHECK: False. One of the strongest ways to assess the economy is the unemployment rate, which fell during Trump’s presidency to levels untouched in five decades. But his successor, Joe Biden, matched or exceeded those levels.
TRUMP CLAIM: Trump said he would reverse government regulations to encourage the development of electric vehicles, saying he’d be "saving the U.S. auto industry from complete obliteration, which is happening right now."
FACT CHECK: False. During Biden’s presidency, employment in auto and parts manufacturing had risen by 127,800 jobs through December 2023.
TRUMP CLAIM: Discussing U.S. engagement in Afghanistan, Trump said, “We also left behind $85 billion worth of military equipment.”
FACT CHECK: False. That’s wrong.
The United States spent $88.6 billion in Afghanistan providing security assistance over the course of two decades, and only a fraction of it was for hardware. The lion’s share of that is for salaries for members of the Afghan army and national police, FactCheck.org reported.
TRUMP CLAIM: Trump claimed in his speech that he's leading in Nevada by 14 points.
FACT CHECK: False. According to 538's polling average, he leads Biden by only 6 points in the Silver State. Even the best poll for Trump gives him only a 10-point lead in Nevada.
TRUMP CLAIM: Trump said, "We’ve had the worst inflation we’ve ever had under this person [Biden]."
FACT CHECK: False. Although inflation is still considered an economic problem for the U.S., the overall rate is nowhere near a record.
TRUMP CLAIM: Trump said of Biden's administration, "This is the only administration that said we're going to raise your taxes by four times what you're paying now."
FACT CHECK: False. Biden proposes a tax increase of roughly 7% over the next decade, not 300%, as Trump claims. About 83% of the proposed Biden tax increase would be borne by the top 1% of taxpayers, who earn just under $1 million a year in income.
My fellow Americans, I want to speak to you tonight about the need for us to lower the temperature in our politics and to remember, while we may disagree, we are not enemies. We’re neighbors. We’re friends, coworkers, citizens. And, most importantly, we are fellow Americans. And we must stand together.
Yesterday’s shooting at Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania calls on all of us to take a step back, take stock of where we are, how we go forward from here.
Thankfully, former [President] Trump is not seriously injured. I spoke with him last night. I’m grateful he’s doing well. And Jill and I keep him and his family in our prayers.
We also extend our deepest condolences to the family of the victim who was killed. Corey was a husband, a father, a volunteer firefighter, a hero, sheltering his family from those bullets. We should all hold his family and all those injured in our prayers.
Earlier today, I spoke about an ongoing investigation. We do not know the motive of the shooter yet. We don’t know his opinions or affiliations. We don’t know whether he had help or support or if he communicated with anyone else. Law enforcement professionals, as I speak, are investigating those questions.
Tonight, I want to speak to what we do know: A former president was shot. An American citizen killed while simply exercising his freedom to support the candidate of his choosing.
We cannot – we must not go down this road in America. We’ve traveled it before throughout our history. Violence has never been the answer, whether it’s with members of Congress in both parties being targeted and shot, or a violent mob attacking the Capitol on Jan. 6, or a brutal attack on the spouse of former speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, or information and intimidation on election officials, or the kidnapping plot against a sitting governor, or an attempted assassination on Donald Trump.
There is no place in America for this kind of violence or for any violence ever — period. No exceptions. We can’t allow this violence to be normalized.
You know, the political rhetoric in this country has gotten very heated. It’s time to cool it down. And we all have a responsibility to do that.
Yes, we have deeply felt, strong disagreements. The stakes in this election are enormously high.
I’ve said it many times that the choice in this – that we make in this election is going to shape the future of America and the world for decades to come. I believe that with all my soul. I know that millions of my fellow Americans believe it as well.
And some have a different view as to the direction our country should take. Disagreement is inevitable in American democracy. It’s part of human nature. But politics must never be a literal battlefield and, God forbid, a killing field.
I believe politics ought to be an arena for peaceful debate, to pursue justice, to make decisions guided by the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution. We stand for an America not of extremism and fury but of decency and grace.
All of us now face a time of testing as the election approaches. And the higher the stakes, the more fervent the passions become. This places an added burden on each of us to ensure that no matter how strong our convictions, we must never descend into violence.
The Republican convention will start tomorrow. I have no doubt they’ll criticize my record and offer their own vision for this country. I’ll be traveling this week, making the case for our record and the vision – my vision of the country – our vision.
I’ll continue to speak out strongly for our democracy, stand up for our Constitution and the rule of law, to call for action at the ballot box, no violence on our streets. That’s how democracy should work.
We debate and disagree. We compare and contrast the character of the candidates, the records, the issues, the agenda, the vision for America.
But in America, we resolve our differences at the ballot box. You know, that’s how we do it, at the ballot box – not with bullets. The power to change America should always rest in the hands of the people, not in the hands of a would-be assassin.
You know, the path forward through competing visions of the campaign should always be resolved peacefully, not through acts of violence.
You know, we’re blessed to live in the greatest country on Earth. And I believe that with every soul – every power of my being. So, tonight, I’m asking every American to recommit to make America so – make America what it – think about it. What’s made America so special?
Here in America, everyone wants to be treated with dignity and respect, and hate must have no safe harbor.
Here in America, we need to get out of our silos, where we only listen to those with whom we agree, where misinformation is rampant, where foreign actors fan the flames of our division to shape the outcomes consistent with their interests, not ours.
Let’s remember, here in America, while unity is the most elusive of – goals right now, nothing is more important for us now than standing together. We can do this.
You know, from the beginning, our founders understood the power of passion, and so they created a democracy that gave reason and balance a chance to prevail over brute force. That’s the America we must be, an American democracy where arguments are made in good faith, an American democracy where the rule of law is respected, an American democracy where decency, dignity, fair play aren’t just quaint notions but living, breathing realities.
We owe that to those who come before us, to those who gave their lives for this country. We owe that to ourselves. We owe it to our children and our grandchildren.
Look, let’s never lose sight of who we are. Let’s remember we are the United States of America. There is nothing, nothing, nothing beyond our capacity when we do it together.
The following is an excerpt from historian Ken Burns' speech at Brandeis University:
But it's clear as individuals and as a nation we are dialectically preoccupied. Everything is either right or wrong, red state or blue state, young or old, gay or straight, rich or poor, Palestinian or Israeli, my way or the highway. Everywhere we are trapped by these old, tired, binary reactions, assumptions, and certainties. For filmmakers and faculty, students and citizens, that preoccupation is imprisoning. Still, we know and we hear and we express only arguments, and by so doing, we forget the inconvenient complexities of history and of human nature. . . .
In a filmed interview I conducted with the writer James Baldwin, more than 40 years ago, he said, "No one was ever born who agreed to be a slave, who accepted it. That is, slavery is a condition imposed from without. Of course, the moment I say that," Baldwin continued, "I realize that multitudes and multitudes of people for various reasons of their own enslave themselves every hour of every day to this or that doctrine, this or that delusion of safety, this or that lie. Anti-Semites, for example," he went on, "are slaves to a delusion. People who hate Negroes are slaves. People who love money are slaves. We are living in a universe really of willing slaves, which makes the concept of liberty and the concept of freedom so dangerous," he finished. Baldwin is making a profoundly psychological and even spiritual statement, not just a political or racial or social one. He knew, just as Lincoln knew, that the enemy is often us. We continue to shackle ourselves with chains we mistakenly think is freedom.
Another voice, Mercy Otis Warren, a philosopher and historian during our revolution put it this way, "The study of the human character at once opens a beautiful and a deformed picture of the soul. We there find a noble principle implanted in the nature of people, but when the checks of conscience are thrown aside, humanity is obscured." I have had the privilege for nearly half a century of making films about the US, but I have also made films about us. That is to say the two letter, lowercase, plural pronoun. All of the intimacy of "us" and also "we" and "our" and all of the majesty, complexity, contradiction, and even controversy of the US. And if I have learned anything over those years, it's that there's only us. There is no them. And whenever someone suggests to you, whomever it may be in your life that there's a them, run away. Othering is the simplistic binary way to make and identify enemies, but it is also the surest way to your own self imprisonment, which brings me to a moment I've dreaded and forces me to suspend my longstanding attempt at neutrality.
There is no real choice this November. There is only the perpetuation, however flawed and feeble you might perceive it, of our fragile 249-year-old experiment or the entropy that will engulf and destroy us if we take the other route. When, as Mercy Otis Warren would say, "The checks of conscience are thrown aside and a deformed picture of the soul is revealed." The presumptive Republican nominee is the opioid of all opioids, an easy cure for what some believe is the solution to our myriad pains and problems. When in fact with him, you end up re-enslaved with an even bigger problem, a worse affliction and addiction, "a bigger delusion", James Baldwin would say, the author and finisher of our national existence, our national suicide as Mr. Lincoln prophesies. Do not be seduced by easy equalization. There is nothing equal about this equation. We are at an existential crossroads in our political and civic lives. This is a choice that could not be clearer. . . .
Choose honor over hypocrisy, virtue over vulgarity, discipline over dissipation, character over cleverness, sacrifice over self-indulgence. Do not lose your enthusiasm, in its Greek etymology the word enthusiasm means simply, "god in us". Serve your country. Insist that we fight the right wars. Denounce oppression everywhere.
‘My predecessor’
Within the first few minutes of the speech, Biden swiped at Trump — and did not let up.
Biden knocked Trump over topics including his coziness with Russia, the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, and his leadership during the coronavirus pandemic.
After describing the economic and societal anguish brought by the pandemic, Biden said his predecessor “failed the most basic” presidential duty: “the duty to care.”
Last night, I met with some of the survivors and the loved ones of the victims of the horrific mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. I came here to tell them that the United States Department of Justice has finished its Critical Incident Review.
In undertaking this review at the request of the then-mayor, the Justice Department committed to using our expertise and independence to assess the law enforcement response to the shooting, and to provide guidance moving forward.
As I told families and survivors last night, the Department’s review concluded that a series of major failures — failures in leadership, in tactics, in communication, and in training and preparedness — were made by law enforcement leaders and other officials responding to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary.
As a result, 33 students and three of their teachers — many of whom had been shot — were trapped in a room with an active shooter for over an hour as law enforcement officials remained outside.
I also told the families and survivors how deeply sorry I am for the losses they suffered that day. And for the losses they have endured every day since.
I told them that the priority for the Justice Department in preparing this report has been to honor the memories of those who were taken from them.
And I told the families gathered last night what I hope is clear among the hundreds of pages and thousands of details in this report: their loved ones deserved better.
The law enforcement response at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022 — and in the hours and days after — was a failure that should not have happened.
We hope to honor the victims and the survivors by working together to try to prevent anything like it from happening again, here or anywhere.
I am now going to turn to the key observations and recommendations of the report.
On May 24, 2022, at 11:33 a.m., an active shooter, wearing body armor and equipped with a high-powered AR-15 rifle, entered Robb Elementary School and began shooting into classrooms 111 and 112, which shared a connecting door.
Within minutes, 11 law enforcement officers, from the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District and Uvalde Police Department, arrived inside the school. Hearing continued gunfire, five officers immediately advanced toward classrooms 111 and 112. Within seconds, shots were fired from inside the classrooms, shrapnel hit two officers, and all responders retreated to cover.
A single officer then made additional attempts to approach the classrooms, but after 11:40 a.m., no more attempts to enter the rooms were made until 12:48 p.m., more than an hour later.
As a consequence of failed leadership, training, and policies — injured and scared students and teachers remained trapped with the subject in the classrooms, waiting to be rescued. Survivors later shared that they heard officers gathered outside the classroom while they waited.
The victims trapped in classrooms 111 and 112 were waiting to be rescued at 11:44 a.m. — approximately 10 minutes after officers first arrived — when the subject fired another shot inside the classrooms.
They were still waiting at 11:56 a.m., when an officer on the scene told law enforcement leaders that his wife, a teacher, was inside classrooms 111 and 112, and had been shot.
They were still waiting as broadcasts went out on officer radios that a student trapped inside classroom [112] had called 911 at 12:10 p.m., to say the student was in a room full of victims. That student stayed on the phone with 911 for 16 minutes.
The victims were still waiting to be rescued when the subject fired four more shots inside the classrooms at 12:21 p.m., 49 minutes after officers first arrived on scene.
And they were still waiting for another 27 minutes after that until officers finally entered the classrooms and killed the subject.
As the victims were trapped and waiting for help, many of their families were waiting outside the school, growing increasingly concerned about why law enforcement had not taken action to rescue their loved ones.
Law enforcement officers from different agencies, who had self-deployed to the scene in overwhelming numbers, were themselves waiting for leadership decisions about how to proceed.
Many officers reported that they did not know: who, if anyone, was in charge; what they should do; or the status of the incident.
Some officers were confused about why there was no attempt to confront the active shooter and rescue the children.
Some officers believed the subject had already been killed, or that law enforcement was in the room with the shooter.
Seventy-five minutes after the first officers arrived on scene, officers finally entered room 111. The subject engaged the entry team with gunfire, and the officers responded with fire.
Seventy-seven minutes after the first officers arrived on scene, and after 45 rounds had been fired by the active shooter, the shooter was killed.
The massacre at Robb Elementary school shattered families throughout this community and devastated our country. Nineteen children and two of their teachers. An untold number of students, teachers, and law enforcement officers were injured.
The law enforcement response to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary was a failure.
As the threat posed to our country by mass shootings has grown and evolved over the past several decades, law enforcement’s response tactics have also changed.
The massacre at Columbine High School 25 years ago, and the 47 minutes it took for law enforcement to enter that high school, marked a major shift in how law enforcement leaders think about responding to mass shootings.
It is now widely understood by law enforcement agencies across the country that, in active shooter incidents, time is not on the side of law enforcement. Every second counts. And the priority of law enforcement must be to immediately enter the room and stop the shooter with whatever weapons and tools officers have with them.
That is the approach responding officers first employed when they arrived at Robb Elementary School.
But within minutes of arriving inside the school, officials on scene transitioned from treating the scene as an active shooter situation to treating the shooter as a barricaded subject.
This was the most significant failure.
That failure meant that law enforcement officials prioritized a protracted evacuation of students and teachers in other classrooms, instead of immediately rescuing the victims trapped with the active shooter.
It meant that officials spent time attempting to negotiate with the subject, instead of trying to enter the rooms and confront him.
It meant that officials asked for and waited for additional responders and equipment, instead of following generally accepted active shooter practice and moving toward the shooter with the resources they had.
It meant waiting for a set of keys to open the classroom door, which the report concludes was likely unlocked anyway.
And, it meant that the victims remained trapped with the shooter for more than an hour after the first officers arrived on scene.
There were also failures in leadership, command, and coordination.
None of the law enforcement leaders at the scene established an incident command structure to provide timely direction, control, and coordination of the enormous number of responders who arrived on scene. This lack of a command structure, exacerbated by communications difficulties, contributed to confusion among responders about who was in charge and how they could help.
These failures may also have been influenced by policy and training deficiencies at responding law enforcement agencies. Some lacked any active shooter training at all; some had inappropriate training; some lacked critical incident response training; and the vast majority had never trained together with different agencies.
As Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta will discuss in further detail, the chaos and confusion that defined the law enforcement response while the shooter remained a threat also defined the aftermath.
For example, surviving victims, some with bullet wounds and other injuries, were put on buses without being brought to the attention of medics. Some families were told that their family members had survived when they had not.
And victims, families, and community members struggled to receive timely and accurate information about what had occurred at Robb Elementary.
The Justice Department’s objective in preparing this report was threefold: first, to honor the victims, the survivors, and their loved ones.
Second, to provide a clear and independent accounting of the law enforcement response to the horrific attack that devastated this community.
And third, to provide law enforcement agencies and communities across the country with analysis and recommendations about how what happened in Uvalde should inform efforts to prepare for and respond to mass shootings.
Policing is a noble profession. It is also a hard one. It requires training and constant education about evolving threats.
The report includes widely accepted recommendations that have been adopted by law enforcement agencies across the country about how to prepare for, and respond to, active shooter situations.
Before an active shooter incident occurs, law enforcement agencies have a responsibility to ensure that their leaders and all their officers are trained to focus on rapid response — trained that the first officers on scene must focus on eliminating the threat and protecting the victims most in danger.
Law enforcement leaders responding to an active shooter must be prepared to take charge, to establish a unified command, and to facilitate communications, operational coordination, and allocation and delivery of resources. They must continually assess and adjust as the incident evolves.
And in the aftermath of a mass shooting, law enforcement and government agencies must provide the public with a sense of trust and confidence by communicating openly, clearly, and compassionately during a time in which many are learning the most devastating news that anyone can receive.
The victims and survivors of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022, deserved better.
First and foremost, the 19 children and their two teachers who were stolen from their loved ones should be here today.
They should never have been targeted by a mass shooter.
We must never forget the shooter’s heinous acts that day.
And the victims and survivors should never have been trapped with that shooter for more than an hour as they waited for their rescue.
The families of the victims and survivors deserved more than incomplete, inaccurate, and conflicting communications about the status of their loved ones.
This community deserved more than misinformation from officials during and after the attack.
Responding officers here in Uvalde — who also lost loved ones and who still bear the emotional scars of that day — deserved the kind of leadership and training that would have prepared them to do the work that was required.
Our children deserve better than to grow up in a country where an 18-year-old has easy access to a weapon that belongs on battlefield, not in a classroom.
And communities across the country, and the law enforcement officers who protect them, deserve better than to be forced to respond to one horrific mass shooting after another.
But that is the terrible reality that we face.
And so, it is the reality that every law enforcement agency in every community across the country must be prepared for.
No community and no law enforcement agency should have to face that threat alone.
That is why we came to Uvalde. And that why we are releasing this report.
The Justice Department remains committed to working in partnership with communities across the country, and with the law enforcement agencies working to protect those communities every day. In particular, we stand ready to help communities and agencies prepare to respond to a terrible incident like the one that occurred here.
We have concluded the Department’s review. But we know that the work of healing here in Uvalde is only beginning.
We are humbled and grateful to stand with this community as you remember and honor your loved ones.
