Biden says ‘we have to act’ after Texas school shooting

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden addressed the nation Tuesday night shortly after returning to the White House from a five-day trip to Asia that was bookended by “horrific” mass tragedy.

Biden was on Air Force One on Tuesday afternoon when officials said a gunman acting alone killed at least 18 students and a teacher at a Texas elementary school.

He had departed for Asia last week just two days after he met with victims’ families after a hate-motivated shooter killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo grocery store.

The back-to-back tragedies served as a sobering reminder of the frequency and brutality of the American epidemic of mass gun violence.