In his remarks just now, President Biden said the Second Amendment of the US Constitution - which guarantees gun rights - limited the ability of Americans to own a cannon.

This claim, which Biden often repeats when discussing the subject of gun control, has previously been ruled false by fact-checkers at the Washington Post., external

The president also frequently argues that a 10-year ban on assault weapons - which he helped get through the US Senate as part of a 1994 crime bill - was effective in reducing gun violence in America.

However, Factcheck.org, external says the raw numbers, when adjusted for population and other factors, don't actually show a clear fall.

Image source, Getty Images

President Biden has just signed an executive order requiring new use-of-force rules for police. It comes on the second anniversary of George Floyd’s death.

He took the opportunity to comment on the Uvalde school massacre and advocate for gun control, a long-standing Democratic party priority.

"The vast majority of law enforcement risk their lives everyday to do the right thing," Biden said from the East Room of the White House.

"Their families wait for their phone call everytime they put on that shield.

"Just yesterday in Uvalde, brave local officers and Border Patrol agents intervened to save as many of those children as they could."

According to officials, a Border Patrol agent that was near Robb Elementary rushed into the school and shot the gunman. Other officers reportedly broke windows to help children escape the school.

The people of Uvalde need the support of every American, Biden says, declaring: “As a nation I think we all must be there for them, every one.

“And we must ask when in God’s name will we do what needs to be done to, if not completely stop, fundamentally change the amount of carnage that goes on in this country.

“To state the obvious, I’m sick and tired, I’m just sick and tired of what’s going on and what continues to go on.”

Before moving on to the subject of policing, Biden says: "It's time for action."

Image source, Getty Images

"Since I spoke last night, the confirmed death toll has tragically climbed," Biden begins his remarks.

He says he and his wife, Jill Biden, will travel to Uvalde in the coming days to meet families "and get a sense of their pain, and hopefully bring some little comfort to the community in shock, grief and trauma".

He adds that all Americans must stand together to be there for the Uvalde community in their suffering.

Biden goes on to say that the idea that a teenager is able to legally purchase weapons that are "designed and marketed to kill, is just wrong".

Vice-President Kamala Harris began her remarks at the White House by paying condolences to families who said goodbye to their loved ones for the last time on Tuesday morning.

"Enough is enough," she says.

"As the president said last night we must have the courage to stand up to the gun lobby."

President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris are due to deliver remarks in the next few minutes on the topic of "public trust and safety" at the White House.

He is signing an executive order on police reform, an event that was scheduled before the Uvalde massacre.

According to a senior official, Biden will address the Uvalde shooting at the beginning of his remarks.

He also spoke on Tuesday about the tragedy, just after returning from a trip to Asia.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

As we reported earlier, the Texas governor said earlier on Wednesday that the attacker had posted three times to Facebook before the attack.

Governor Greg Abbott said the killer wrote that he was planning to shoot his grandmother, then to say he had done it, and then again to say he would attack an elementary school - about 15 minutes before it unfolded.

Meta, Facebook's parent company, has released a statement clarifying the gunman's post was not public.

"The messages Gov Abbott described were private one-to-one text messages that were discovered after the terrible tragedy occurred," the California-based company said in a statement.

Meta added that it was "closely co-operating" with investigators.

Lt Christopher Olivarez from the Texas Department of Public Safety describes the scene police faced when they arrived at Robb Elementary School.

He tells CBS News that teachers evacuated children through broken windows while the gunman was barricaded inside the building.

Don't expect meaningful change to US gun lawspublished at 20:20 British Summer Time 25 May 2022

20:20 BST 25 May 2022

Sarah Smith
North America Editor

This tragedy has reignited the debate over gun control in the US. But realistically, it is unlikely to result in significant reform. The argument over guns has simply become too politically divisive and culturally entrenched to allow for meaningful change.

It is important to remember that guns are normal in many parts of America. They are not seen as exceptional or frightening as they may look to outsiders. They are a part of everyday life.

American gun owners - and there are an estimated 80 million of them - see their weapons as protection: a way to defend their own freedoms and property. In a country where there is a real prospect of an armed criminal entering your home or assaulting you on the street it is considered by many to be a sensible precaution.

Guns are so ubiquitous in America no one will be able to get them out of the hands of felons. And so the argument goes: the good guys should have them too.

Read Sarah's full piece here.

There were only two days left of the school year for the Uvalde area, but those have both been cancelled for pupils.

Staff are to report to their campuses, and school counsellors will be available at all campuses to provide counselling support, a post on the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Facebook page said.

It said graduation ceremonies - scheduled for Friday according to the district's calendar - would be "addressed at a later time".

"This is a tragic time in our district, we will come together to begin the healing process," the post says.

"This is a difficult time for everyone, however the gentle support all school community members give to each other during this time is the first step in healing."

Image source, Reuters

Angelica Casas
Reporting from Uvalde

Image source, EPA

Carlos Velazquez grew up hunting - surrounded by guns and family. That’s a normal part of life for small town Texans, who are often gifted a gun when they turn of age.

“As a kid I remember my uncles teaching me and training me on how to hold a gun,” Velasquez said. It’s what he was thinking about on his drive down from Dallas to meet with family friends who lost a daughter in the shooting.

“The juxtaposition of good safety with what just happened is so nuanced. It’s not just a clean-cut thought - it’s a really sticky situation and sticky conversation to have now.”

Since last autumn, Texans can now openly carry guns in public without a permit or training. It hurts Velazquez to know that this shooting, carried out with a semi-automatic rifle and handgun, has tainted the place where he grew up, just as it has tainted his perspective on guns.

“Uvalde is a small quaint town. The world will not know Uvalde for Dolph Briscoe (the 41st governor of Texas who was from Uvalde), or Grammy Award-winning Los Palominos (a Tejano music group from here), they’re not going to know about the beautiful rivers that go through here,” he said.

“Uvalde will be known for its mass shooting - that’s really unfortunate.”

Image source, Getty Images

A reporter asked Governor Abbott whether he plans to cancel his visit to the annual meeting of the National Rifle Association (NRA) this Friday in Houston, Texas, in light of the shooting.

The NRA is the powerful national gun lobby in the US.

Its annual meeting will include former President Donald Trump and top national and statewide Republican officials. Firearms will be banned from Trump's speech.

The former president released a statement on Wednesday affirming his intention to attend the meeting. "America needs solutions and real leadership in this moment, not politics and partisanship," the statement read.

Abbott did not confirm or deny whether he will go.

But he said, "My head, my heart and my body are in Uvalde right now".

What is the NRA and why is it so powerful?

The news conference in Texas has just ended.

Here is what happened:

• Texas officials stressed that the shooter had a mental health problem while rejecting the need for stricter gun control measures in the state
• Governor Greg Abbott detailed the incident, adding the suspect made three Facebook posts ahead of his rampage signaling his next moves

• Abbott called the suspect "pure evil" but noted he had no criminal history
• He added: "Anybody who shoots somebody else has a mental health challenge. Period."
• An unexpected piece of political drama played out when Abbott's rival for governor in this year's election, Beto O'Rourke, mounted a stunning interruption, rebuking officials for not enacting tougher gun laws
• Other officials spoke of the tragedy and its impact, disclosing that two law enforcement officers lost loved ones

State and local officials have wrapped up their news conference with reporters in Uvalde, Texas.

Boer Deng
BBC News

Image source, Getty Images

From the outside, it can often be difficult to understand how such tragedies can happen and why they don't trigger quick action to stop the proliferation of guns.

But in Texas, as elsewhere in the US, gun ownership is commonplace - and knowing how to shoot is considered as natural as learning how to drive in many communities. That's why the place from which the political discussion begins is not with gun control.

As Diego Bernal, a Democratic representative to the Texas congress from San Antonio puts it: "It seems like the natural response after the shock and the horror is to ask yourself what we could have done to prevent it and to ask what we can do now.

"But in Texas, you start with anything to do with gun control off the table, and that's why so many of us get so angry so quickly".

Indeed, he pointed out, after the last mass shooting in Texas, in El Paso, the state passed a law to expand the right to carry a weapon.

"We as a state will be as creative as we can without touching gun control," said Mr Bernal.

Two law enforcement officials lost loved ones in the "unspeakable tragedy", says the Speaker of the Texas House, Dade Phelan.

"I believe one school district police officer lost his wife in the shooting and was there on the scene," he says.

A sheriff deputy also lost a child, he says.

Earlier, a law enforcement official had described the school as a familiar one for the community, where some had children in attendance.

Earlier in the press conference, Governor Abbott praised law enforcement "by getting on the scene and being able to eliminate the gunman, they were able to save lives, but unfortunately, not enough."

It appears calm has been restored at the news conference in Texas.

Hal Harrell, superintendent of the Uvalde school district, says: "We have been cut deep here in our community."

He said the two teachers who died in Tuesday's shooting were "the cornerstone of that campus" and had taught at the school for many years.

Recalling the "angelic smiles" of the 19 children dead, he adds: "I never thought I would be sitting here doing this today."

Image source, Reuters

Abbott says he spoke to law enforcement officers at all levels, community leaders and officials earlier, asking "what is the problem here"?

He says they were "straightforward and emphatic" saying "we have a problem with mental health illness in this community".

They elaborated on the magnitude of the mental health challenges they are facing in the community and the need for more mental health support, he says.

Abbott says everyone affected by the shooting will need access to mental health support.

"Everybody - the victims, the families, the family members, friends, the law enforcement - is in utter shock," he says.

An angry Governor Abbott accuses Beto O'Rourke - his likely Democratic challenger for the governorship - of making a selfish political stand after he interrupted the press conference.

O'Rourke appears to have walked to the front of the room and interrupted the governor after he suggested the gunman's poor mental health - not his firearm - was the reason the shooting happened.

Abbott's deputy was heard telling O'Rourke he was "out of line".

"We need to focus on the healing and hope people have suffered," Abbott says. "We need all Texans".

Image source, CBS

Image source, CBS

According to Governor Abbott, the gunman put three posts on his Facebook prior to the rampage.

In the first, about 30 minutes prior, he wrote: "I'm going to shoot my grandmother".

The second post confirmed he had done so.

In the third post, about 15 minutes before his attack at the school began, the suspect announced he was going to shoot an elementary school, says Abbott.