Federal lawmakers cannot do much to help prevent school shootings aside from throwing money at the issue, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday.
The Kentucky Republican addressed the topic in front of citizens and community leaders in Danville, Kentucky, saying it's more of a local issue.
"I don't think at the federal level there's much that we can do other than appropriate funds," McConnell said, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.
"You would think, given how much it takes to get on an American plane or given how much it takes to get into courthouses, that this might be something that we could achieve, but I don't think we could do that from Washington. I think it's basically a local decision."
The gun control debate in America took on new life after the Feb. 14 shooting in a Florida high school that left 14 children and three adults dead. Florida and a handful of other states have passed some gun-related laws in the wake of that incident, but lawmakers in Washington, D.C. have been unable to come up with bipartisan legislation that could help prevent more shootings from happening.
McConnell said the threat of school shootings is real in every city and town.
"It's a darn shame that's where we are but this epidemic is something that's got all of our attention" he said. "And I know it's got the attention of every school superintendent in the country."
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