Currently, much of the country is reeling from yesterday’s tragedy, when an 18-year-old named Salvador Ramos converged upon Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas and opened fire, leaving 21 people dead (including 19 children) and many more wounded. The shooting becomes the 27th to take place within a school this year alone — it’s also the worst of its kind since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting back in 2012.

Some hours following the massacre, former U.S. President Barack Obama took to social media to give his thoughts on what took place, stating that he and former First Lady Michelle Obama were grieving with the families of those lost:

“Across the country, parents are putting their children to bed, reading stories, singing lullabies—and in the back of their minds, they’re worried about what might happen tomorrow after they drop their kids off at school, or take them to a grocery store or any other public space. Michelle and I grieve with the families in Uvalde, who are experiencing pain no one should have to bear.”

He also condemned gun lobbyists and the Republican Party for what he feels is inaction in the wake of countless mass shootings that have risen in this country since the turn of the century, both in schools and in public places as a whole:

“We’re also angry for them. Nearly ten years after Sandy Hook—and ten days after Buffalo—our country is paralyzed, not by fear, but by a gun lobby and a political party that have shown no willingness to act in any way that might help prevent these tragedies.”

Obama‘s message came shortly after President Joe Biden delivered an emotionally charged speech from the White House Roosevelt Room:

“As a nation we have to ask when in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby … I am sick and tired of it — we have to act.”

Read Barack Obama‘s full message below.