Backlash for JD Vance after calling school shooting a ‘fact of life’

America's ideological split over gun control has spilled over into the presidential campaign after JD Vance, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, voiced regret that school shootings had "become a fact of life" in the US.

Vance's comments - in the wake of the latest deadly shooting, at Apalachee high school in Georgia - ignited a political row after Democrats depicted them as evidence of a lack of empathy while Republicans claimed the remarks had been taken out of context.

Vance called for more security measures in schools without mentioning gun control, while Democrats including Kamala Harris and the US president, Joe Biden, want a ban on assault-style rifles, more background checks and other gun safety action.

Asked about the Georgia shooting while speaking at a campaign rally in Phoenix, Arizona, on Thursday evening, Vance said: "I don't like this. I don't like to admit this. I don't like that this is a fact of life. But if you are a psycho and you want to make headlines, you realise that our schools are soft targets."

The boy who is charged in the Georgia school shooting is 14 years old.

The remarks, which were prefaced by an attack on the pro-gun control stance of Harris, the Democratic nominee for president in this November's election, were immediately seized on by the Harris campaign.

"School shootings are not just a fact of life," the Democratic nominee posted on X (formerly Twitter), linking to footage of Vance's comments.