The Facts
A six-year-old boy reportedly shot a teacher with a handgun at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Va., on Friday afternoon during an altercation inside a first-grade classroom.
While the teacher suffered life-threatening injuries and is recuperating at a local hospital, the student was sent to police custody on Friday evening, chief of the Newport News Police Department Steve Drew said.
The Spin
Democratic narrative
Friday's shooting is a lesson in gun violence and must renew calls for more significant gun restrictions in the US. This isn't a local issue but rather a larger problem that requires political courage at the federal level. School shootings will not stop until elected leaders take meaningful action and stand up to the gun lobbyists.
Republican narrative
While stricter gun laws haven't been proven to prevent shootings like this, such laws have been shown to strip law-abiding gun owners of their constitutionally-protected rights. The gun violence epidemic in the US is a symptom of a broader mental health crisis, so there should be a concerted effort to address the core sociological problems that lead to acts like these.
Narrative C
There's no tangible link between mental health and gun violence. School shootings represent a small percentage of all gun violence, and mental illness is not a factor in most. Blaming mental health issues prevents the government from finding real solutions and stigmatizes those with mental health disorders.
