Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) cited "wokeness" and the teaching of critical race theory as contributors to the number of school shootings in the country.

The senator addressed the deadly elementary school mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, attributing such atrocities to a "societywide sickness that is not going to be solved by some gun law, additional gun laws here in Washington, D.C."

When asked for a solution, he pointed to schools and their priorities. "The solution lies in stronger families, more supportive communities, I would argue renewed faith," Johnson told Fox Business anchor Neil Cavuto. "We've lost that. We stopped teaching values in so many of our schools. Now, we're teaching wokeness. We're indoctrinating our children with things like CRT, telling, you know, some children they're not equal to others, and they're the cause of other people's problems."

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Critical race theory, which says that U.S. institutions and culture are systemically racist and oppressive to racial minorities, has been a source of national controversy for over a year due to the outcry from parents who were concerned about its incorporation into public schools.

Johnson was slammed by political rivals for his comments on the school rampage, which resulted in the deaths of 19 children and two teachers.

"Ron Johnson is bearing false witness when he refuses to name the cause of these mass tragedies, which is our nation's lunatic access to weapons of mass destruction of the type used to slaughter these children in Uvalde," said Tom Nelson, a Democrat running to unseat Johnson.

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Both Nelson and fellow Democratic Senate candidate Alex Lasry used Johnson's comments to advocate for an assault rifle ban.

"We need to ban assault weapons, expand background checks, and make our communities safer. The only way to change the deadly status quo in this country is to get Ron Johnson out of the Senate," Lasry said, according to Madison.com.

Johnson's remarks arrived a day after his proposed "school safety" legislation was blocked by Senate Democrats. The bill "would codify into law a clearinghouse of information for the best school safety practices," according to statement.