Rep. Speier: Connecticut Shooting an 'Unspeakable Tragedy'

California Congresswoman Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, said Friday afternoon she is at a loss for words in response to the tragic massacre in Connecticut that has shocked the entire nation.

"Watching in horror and disbelief at what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School this morning, I can’t find words to describe the shock and sadness I am feeling for the children and adults who were senselessly murdered," Speier said.

"My thoughts and prayers are with the parents, families and school employees in Newtown, Connecticut who are confronting an unspeakable tragedy," she said.

The mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School Friday morning horrified the nation and left parents questioning how they can protect their children.

Twenty-seven people were killed—the majority of them children between the ages of 5 and 10—at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. The violence is the second deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.

"The senseless taking of 26 lives raises so many questions about why this happened and what can be done to make certain it is not repeated elsewhere. But these questions have been asked before and each time the response has been one of grief followed by inaction," Speier said.

"Perhaps, this latest tragedy will lead to the kind of policies that will effectively prevent troubled people in this country from obtaining guns capable of massacring innocent people," she said.

Speier is herself a victim of gun violence, after being shot in 1978 during a visit to Jonestown, a commune in Guyana established by cult leader Jim Jones. Speier was a young aide accompanying San Mateo Congressman Leo Ryan when she was shot five times. Ryan was also shot and died in the attack.