(Bloomberg) -- First Lady Jill Biden will attend a memorial service on Wednesday evening for the victims of a mass shooting at a Nashville elementary school.

“We continue to call on Congress to act to pass an assault weapons ban and take additional actions to make our kids and communities safer,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at Wednesday’s briefing as she announced the visit.

The visit comes as the killings at Covenant School — of three 9-year-old children and three adults — have renewed a national debate regarding gun rights. President Joe Biden on Tuesday called on Congress to pass an assault weapons ban, while acknowledging the prospect of legislative action was dim.

The first lady — a professor at a Northern Virginia community college — has been closely aligned with educators throughout her career. 

The suspect, a 28-year-old who previously attended Covenant School, was brandishing multiple guns when killed by police. Other victims included the head of school, a substitute teacher, and a custodian.

The president told reporters on Tuesday that he hoped to talk to families of the victims, and had spoken to local officials as well as police officers who confronted the suspect in the private Christian school, which is next door to the Covenant Presbyterian Church. 

Biden said that despite there being little chance of Congress passing new gun control laws, he would continue to highlight the issue to “expose those people who refuse to do something.”

“I’m going to keep calling it out, remind people that they’re not acting,” Biden told reporters as he was about to return to Washington after a trip to North Carolina. “They should act.”

“This is ridiculous,” he added. “And it’s all about money — big, big, big money.”

Last year, when Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress, lawmakers passed the first nationwide gun-control legislation in 30 years, improving the national background-check system for gun purchasers under 21, and closing the so-called boyfriend loophole that allowed dating partners convicted of domestic abuse to buy guns. 

That effort was supported by Everytown for Gun Safety, an advocacy organization backed by Michael Bloomberg, founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent company Bloomberg LP.

But Republican lawmakers have indicated they have little inclination to pursue additional legislation following the Nashville shooting. Senate Minority Whip John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, said such proposals were “premature.”

“Why not talk about the real issue facing the country in regards to this shooting, which would be mental health,” Andy Ogles, a congressman who represents the Nashville area, told CNN.

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