‘We Must Protect Our Educators and Children’

Jill Biden addresses nation’s gun violence during White House virtual event hours after Wisconsin school shooting claims lives of a student and teacher.

First Lady Dr. Jill Biden speaks about gun violence prevention with K-12 principals in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC, on January 25, 2024. (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

First Lady Dr. Jill Biden told educators Monday that “we must protect our educators and children from gun violence” in a final farewell message that came hours after another tragic school shooting in a private Christian school in Madison, Wisconsin, claimed the lives of a teacher, a student and the shooter, shaking the nation just days before Christmas.

“We must not accept this as normal,” Biden said at the top of a live, virtual White House “Thank You” event meant to acknowledge the first lady’s four-year partnership with teachers during the Biden Administration. But the horrific gun violence at Abundant Life Christian School, which also left two students in critical condition and four others with less serious injuries, overshadowed the event. The shooter, a 15-year-old female,…