The United States must come together as a society and examine what is causing the nation's numerous school shootings, Rep. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers, R-Wash., said Monday.
"We certainly need to be willing to have the courageous conversations," McMorris-Rodgers, who chairs the House Republican Conference, told Fox News' "America's Newsroom."
"We need to come together as a society and really look at what is going on that is causing young people to take this kind of violence out on one another."
Shootings, such as the one that claimed 10 lives at Santa Fe High School in Texas last week, are "heartbreaking," McMorris-Rodgers said. "It is heartbreaking. I'm a mom of three school-age kids, and I think about this personally."
Americans must have confidence their children's schools are safe, she said, pointing out in recent months, additional legislation has been passed allowing funding for stopping school violence, and to give schools more tools to fight back.
"I've talked with school administrators in my district," McMorris-Rodgers said. "[There was] a terrible school shooting south of Spokane, that I represent. They talked about the importance of resource officers, more mental health providers, as well as more resources to just take action so that the schools are safe. We must look at this and we must be willing to have the courageous conversation."
She added schools must be able to report incidents with students without fear of having their funding impacted.
"We have to be able to help kids that we see that are in need," McMorris-Rodgers said, "and really ask ourselves what is going on as a society that we have so many young people that seem to be living in such a dark, lonely place and willing to take this kind of action on their fellow students? I mean, it is just heartbreaking."
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.
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