Biden pledges push for new gun laws as funeral visitations begin in Uvalde

William Brangham:

Nearly a week has passed since the shooting in an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 children and two teachers were murdered. Funeral visitations began today for two of the children killed inside the classroom. Funeral services are set to begin tomorrow.

When President Biden visited the grieving community yesterday, demonstrators urged him to — quote — "do something."

And, today, the president spoke about the possibility of changing America's gun laws.

President Joe Biden:

I've been pretty motivated all along.

You know, the folks — the folks who were victimized there, and their families, they spent three hours and 40 minutes with me. And they waited all that time, and some came two hours early. And — but the pain is palpable. And I think a lot of it is unnecessary.

So I'm going to continue to push, and we'll see how this works.

William Brangham:

The Justice Department announced yesterday it will investigate how local law enforcement responded during that mass shooting at Robb Elementary School.

The investigation comes as questions and frustrations continue to mount over why police took so long to confront the killer.

Tony Plohetski is an investigative reporter at The Austin-American Statesman. He spent the last week on the ground reporting in Uvalde.

Tony, thanks for being back on the "NewsHour."

You spent a week there amidst this community that has obviously been upended by this tragedy. Can you just give us a sense of what you heard from people? How are they coping with all of this?

Tony Plohetski, The Austin-American Statesman:

Well, based on the array of people I talk to, I think people are processing this differently depending on who they are.

I can tell you with certainty that there was overwhelming shock Tuesday in the immediate hours after this happened into Wednesday. But, as the week wore on and people were getting a confusing message from law enforcement, a confusing timeline, a lot of the shock really then turned to anger and, of course, sadness.

But then, when we learned the really wrenching the details about the law enforcement response later in the week, the anger was almost unfathomable for these people. And the facts that were being put out by the top law enforcement officer in the state really just compounded the tragedy in the minds of the people of Uvalde.

William Brangham:

I can only imagine.

The timeline that you are describing, for people who haven't followed this, was that for a seeming excruciatingly long period of time, 19 police officers stood outside the room where the shooter was, having been ordered to do so because they — the sense was that there wasn't an ongoing threat, which we now know that there was.

When that news came out, I mean, were you present with people as they started to hear this, that the police were just outside that door for so long, and perhaps could have saved more lives?

Tony Plohetski:

Well, I was among hundreds of reporters who had descended onto the town.

And I can tell you that it almost took people's breath away. But, of course, as soon as we received that information, we then went into the community to see how people were processing these new revelations. And it wasn't very well.

And, William, you have to keep in mind that, during all of this, we have seen the social media videos, of course, and we talked to people who were part of this. And that is, as this was unfolding inside the halls of that school way. And inside the walls of that school, people were begging the police to please go in and do something, take action, do anything you can to preserve life.

And that simply wasn't happening.

William Brangham:

We understand too from President Biden's visit yesterday that, while he was there, and then as he was leaving, people were literally shouting at him to do something, ostensibly about gun control and trying to prevent any other city from going through this kind of tragedy.

Did you hear that as well from residents, who do look to Washington, D.C., here for some sense of action to be taken?

Tony Plohetski:

This was a very divided topic on the ground in Uvalde.

I was talking to people and overhearing conversations on the town square that had been transformed into a memorial for the victims of the shooting. And opinions ranged, frankly. There were many people who feel as though this was more of a problem of mental health or hardening schools, which we have heard some of our politicians here in Texas talk about.

But I also have to tell you that there were people who were truly stunned, supporters of the Second Amendment, they told me, who were truly stunned at the reality that an 18-year-old man could possibly buy AR-15s in their town, as well as the hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and then take it to that school.

But the ability to do that, to them, was quite striking and very alarming and upsetting.

William Brangham:

I can only imagine how they must be recognizing, as those facts continue to roll out.

Tony Plohetski of The Austin-American Statesman, thank you so much again for being with us.

Tony Plohetski:

Thank you.