There is "no magic solution" coming from Washington, D.C., that will solve the growing number of mass shootings in the United States, Rep. Michael Waltz said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America" Saturday, while addressing the call for more strict gun control measures in the wake of the massacre in Uvalde, Texas earlier this week.
"There are really deep societal issues that we have to address, and there's not some magic solution in Washington, D.C., that if we only just pass some bill, it's going to fix it all," the Florida Republican said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America."
"I think we need communities, families, and municipalities to come together and try to figure out why these 18-year-olds repeatedly want to go kill young children, regardless of the weapon they're holding."
Waltz further criticized those who are playing politics with the shootings that claimed the lives of 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School on Tuesday, including Texas Democrat gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke "grandstanding" while Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was giving parents information in a press conference.
"Every child who is murdered every child who dies from violence, it's sickening and sad," said Waltz, who came into office in 2018, the same year 17 people were killed in the school shooting in Parkland, Florida. "We should be outraged across the board."
The Parkland shootings impacted all of Florida, and "in many ways, still does," said Waltz. "I would expect that this tragedy in Texas will have that same effect."
Florida did pass several state measures after the Parkland shootings, said Waltz.
"I think one of the most important was the Guardian Program, which authorizes school systems and provides funding and training for them to have armed guards, mainly retired police and military but armed school officers, in our schools to protect our kids."
Waltz said he also advocates a return to national service programs for teens and young adults, which he said would give them the opportunity of "serving a cause bigger than themselves and doing it with other kids that may not share their view or their background or different race, religion, or social-economic background. We need to get back to that."
In many cases, there are warnings that violent attacks are about to take place, but when the threats are reported to law enforcement or the FBI, as in the case of Parkland, nothing was done, said Waltz.
"I think we'll have a lot of lessons to learn out of this shooting as well, but apparently, we, as a society, are not [doing] what we need to learn in taking the corrective action that we need to take," he said.
About NEWSMAX TV:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!
- Find NEWSMAX in over 100 million U.S. homes via cable/streaming – More Info Here
- Watch NEWSMAX TV online – See It Here
- Download the FREE NEWSMAX App on Your Smartphone to Watch Now!
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.