U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar says the Justice Department's review of how police responded during the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas will look to bring answers to a number of questions in the wake of yet another tragedy.
On Sunday, the Justice Department announced a critical incident review of the law enforcement response in Uvalde during the shooting that left 21 people dead, including 19 children.
"It is hard to explain to a parent when you put yourself in those parents' shoes why people waited so long in the hallway while their babies were inside and shots were being fired. I think that's why you're seeing a review," Klobuchar told Steve Simpson during the WCCO Radio Morning News on Monday.
The review follows days of conflicting information provided by Texas authorities. According to law enforcement, nearly 20 officers were standing in the hallway of Robb Elementary School for 45 minutes before using a master key to unlock a classroom door to confront the gunman.
"These reviews and accountability are so important because you got to have faith that when mistakes are made, and this one was huge, that there is some kind of review," Klobuchar said. "That's what we did after January 6 when we looked at the security around the capitol."
Despite the House passing H.R. 8 in March 2021, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021 never received a vote in the Senate. Additional gun measures have also failed to gain much traction in Congress.
"The Senate has always been an issue here," Klobuchar added. "Even more conservative Democrats like Joe Manchin, he has supported background checks and worked with Senator Toomey who is a conservative Republican. We put a bill up and had the majority of the senate, but we couldn't beat the filibuster."
Klobuchar called for a federal response to the Uvalde shooting.
"There's no explaining to those parents why an 18-year-old, with clearly severe mental problems, was able to go out, buy an assault weapon, and massacre a bunch of kids in a classroom," she said. "Yes, there were major law enforcement errors that we're going to discover and will be out for the public, but that kid should have never been able to get an assault weapon."