PHOENIX (AP) Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance said Thursday that he lamented that school shootings are a fact of life and argued the U.S. needs to harden security to prevent more carnage like the shooting this week that left four dead in Georgia.

If these psychos are going to go after our kids weve got to be prepared for it, Vance said at a rally in Phoenix. We dont have to like the reality that we live in, but it is the reality we live in. Weve got to deal with it.

The Ohio senator was asked by a journalist what can be done to stop school shootings. He said further restricting access to guns, as many Democrats advocate, wont end them, noting they happen in states with both lax and strict gun laws. He touted efforts in Congress to give schools more money for security.

I dont like that this is a fact of life, Vance said. But if you are a psycho and you want to make headlines, you realize that our schools are soft targets. And we have got to bolster security at our schools. Weve got to bolster security so if a psycho wants to walk through the front door and kill a bunch of children theyre not able.