Rep. Speier praises 'courage' in California shooting

In a tweet on Thursday night, Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) praised the teacher who, "without a gun," successfully confronted a school shooter.

Saddened about another school shooting today, luckily no one was killed. A teacher talked the gunman down…without a gun. That's courage.

— Jackie Speier (@RepSpeier) January 11, 2013

A 16-year-old male student used a gun to critically wound a fellow student at a California high school on Thursday, according to reports. A teacher and school administrator confronted and disarmed the shooter by talking to him, according to Reuters.

GOP Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who represents part of the county, used social media on Thursday to send prayers "to the victims, their families and the entire Taft community."

The shooting at Taft Union High School comes less than a month after a mass shooting at Connecticut's Sandy Hook Elementary School left 20 children dead. Vice President Biden has been in a series of meetings this week with various parties, ranging from Wal-Mart to the National Rifle Association, in order to put together a series of recommendations on curbing gun violence.

Speier advocates stricter gun regulations, including a federal ban on assault weapons, restricting high-capacity ammunition sales and closing the so-called "gun-show loophole" by ensuring background checks on all gun sales. President Obama has pressed Congress for legislation on the first two by the end of the month.

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