The Biden administration is again calling for more government action on gun control after a teenage student opened fire and killed a teacher and another student in Madison, Wis., on Monday. The White House has reached out to both give condolences to victims and condemnation of the state of gun violence prevention, reports Scripps News. In its final few weeks, the Biden administration continues to push Congress to take more action to prevent gun violence, by considering measures on universal background checks, a national red flag law and a federal ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. "From Newtown to Uvalde, Parkland to Madison, to so many other shootings that don't receive attention — it is unacceptable that we are unable to protect our children from this scourge of gun violence," Biden said. "We cannot continue to accept it as normal."
Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA) chairs the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force. He is hoping for more bipartisan cooperation in the new Congress. "When gun violence is the number one cause of death for kids and for teenagers; when we have more mass shootings than days in the year; when it costs out almost $600 billion to deal with gun violence — you would think that responsible, reasonable people would be willing to step up and work together to make our communities safer," Thompson said. The 15-year-old girl who killed two people and wounded six others at her small Christian school in Wisconsin on Monday had a turbulent home life, Court records show that her parents divorced and remarried multiple times and that she had been enrolled in therapy, reports the Washington Post. Natalie Rupnow, who went by Samantha, died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after police say she opened fire in a study hall classroom at Abundant Life Christian School. The academy’s tight-knit community was grieving the student and teacher who were killed and searching for answers to explain the violence. Police have released few details about Rupnow beyond her name, and they said they were investigating a possible motive behind the shooting. A Washington Post review of court records points to an unsettled childhood for Rupnow, whose parents’ custody agreements sometimes forced her to move between their homes every two or three days.