Tim Kaine: “I rise to just share candid emotions about yesterday's tragic shooting of schoolchildren who were 2 days from the end of…”

“I rise to just share candid emotions about yesterday's tragic shooting of schoolchildren who were 2 days from the end of the school year in Texas--19 deaths of little ones and 2 teachers and others injured. This is rough. I don't have any notes because I am really emotional about it. These shootings kind of give me PTSD, I have to admit. I was the mayor of Richmond, and our city had the second highest homicide rate in the United States. At a much younger period of my life, I found myself going to too many funerals, to too many wakes, to maybe the most memorable crime scenes, then also to homicide victims' family support group meetings in church basements in my city. Then I got to be the Governor of Virginia. In April of 2007, my wife and I landed in Japan while leading a trade mission, and we went to a hotel and immediately got a phone call saying that there was a shooting underway on the campus of Virginia Tech University and that I should turn on CNN, which I did, in Japan. As I saw the events unfold, I said: Take us right back to the airport. We had flown 14 hours.…”