'We need more than thoughts and prayers,' Biden says after another fatal school shooting

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - US President Joe Biden called on lawmakers Thursday to take bold action to curtail gun violence after yet another school shooting left students and teachers dead in the state of Georgia.

"We need more than thoughts and prayers. Some of my Republican friends in Congress just finally have to say, 'Enough is enough, we have to do something,'" the president said in Wisconsin, where he was touting his domestic accomplishments.

Biden pointed to universal background checks, re-instating a national assault rifle ban, and ending legal protections for gun manufacturers as three of the proposals that lawmakers should pursue.

"It won't bring back those children, but thousands of children have been gunned down. You know, more children are killed or die from a gunshot wound than any other reason in the entire United States -- every disease, every accident, everything. More die as a consequence of a bullet in the United States of America," the president said.

Two students and two teachers were killed Wednesday when a suspect identified by police as 14-year-old Colt Gray opened fire at Apalachee High School in Georgia. Nine other victims were hospitalized with injuries they sustained during the shooting.

Additional charges against Gray are expected.