The speech, which compares dead American children to US victims of the war, came the night when fellow Democrats on the House of Representatives committee adopted a series of proposals that most Americans could support but have no chance of overcoming the GOP blockade in the Senate. . The National Rifle Association immediately rejected his proposals, but several Republicans in the Senate are still in talks with Democrats.
If Congress fails again this time, it has asked Americans to vote in November, acknowledging that any legislative victory on gun security will be difficult to achieve – and an unusual call for political action from the White House.
“Remembrance Day, last Monday, Jill and I visited Arlington National Cemetery … We saw rows and rows of crosses … in honor of those who paid the highest price on battlefields around the world. The day before, we visited Uwalde … ” Uwalde, Texas. In front of Rob Elementary School, we stood in front of 21 crosses for 19 third and fourth graders and two teachers. “
Biden began his speech by equating the dead of domestic violence with weapons with those of the American wars abroad. He appears in the White House with memorial candles behind him.
“I want to be very clear. This is not about confiscating someone’s weapons. This is not about denigrating gun owners … I respect culture and tradition, the fears of legitimate gun owners.”
Here, Biden responds to the main accusation of Republicans who oppose gun control measures: that the government wants to trample on their right to bear arms. His promise here will not stop those fears or GOP attacks against him that use these lines.
“At the same time, the Second Amendment, like all other rights, is not absolute.”
Biden cites the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia here, noting that machine guns and other weapons have long been regulated. A statement from the National Revenue Agency rejected the speech: “Everything that the president has repeatedly proposed will only violate the rights of those who obey the law, who have never been and will never commit a crime.”
“Weapons are the number one killer of children in the United States. Killer number one. More than car crashes, more than cancer.”
More children in the United States are dying from gun violence than from anything else. Before that they were motor vehicles. In the last few years, it has become a weapon.
Biden also claims that more children have been killed with weapons than police officers or soldiers on duty in the last two decades, but data on this claim were not immediately available.
“We need to lift the ban on assault weapons … we adopted it in 1994 with the support of both parties in Congress and the support of law enforcement.”
Biden helped pass the law in 1994. But the bipartisan majority that backed it did not exist today. The law was repealed in 2004.
The bipartisan group, which is now trying to reach a marginal agreement after these most recent skirmishes, is not thought to be even considering any of these proposals.
“Why on earth should an ordinary citizen be able to buy an assault weapon that contains 30 rounds of ammunition that allows mass gunners to fire hundreds of bullets in minutes?” The damage was so devastating in Uwalde, parents had to make DNA swabs to identify their children’s remains. Nine- and 10-year-olds. “
Just like the ban on assault weapons, the federal ban on high-capacity magazines expired in 2004.
“The red flag laws could have stopped both shooters.
After asking for laws that most Americans support, but which Senate Republicans will oppose, Biden wants things that are currently being taken seriously by a two-party group on Capitol Hill.
However, the New York Red Flag Act failed to stop the Buffalo shooter. Texas doesn’t have one. Florida passed a red flag law after a series of shootings there, and Republicans did not pay a political price, leading to some hope among defenders of new gun laws that a national red flag effort could be possible.
“If we can’t ban assault weapons properly, we need to at least raise the age so we can buy one at 21.”
Biden points out that the Uwalde shooter waited until he was 18 to buy weapons that his sister would not have bought for him as a 17-year-old. He claims that 18-year-old servicemen have supervision and training.
Waiting periods and age restrictions are restrictions that many Americans support and may actually reduce some of these shootings.
While the vast majority of Americans support many of these individual proposals, most Americans generally do not believe that gun laws should be tightened. CNN’s Harry Enten wrote about this puzzle.
“Imagine if the tobacco industry was immune to a lawsuit where it would be today. The special protections of the arms industry are scandalous. It must end. “
Biden’s claim that the arms industry is the only industry in the United States immune to lawsuits is untrue. Read CNN’s fact check. Using lawsuits as weapons against gun manufacturers is something California lawmakers are currently considering, following Texas’s efforts to promote abortion lawsuits and social media companies.
“Imagine that you are that little girl, that brave little girl in Uwalde who smeared blood on the body of her murdered friend on her face to lie motionless among the corpses in her classroom and pretend to be dead, for to stay alive.
This is a really horrible and exciting story. Read more here. There is growing pressure among gun security advocates to share more appalling details to shock people to action.
“Even before the pandemic, people were already sick. There is a serious mental health crisis in this country … “
Biden argues in favor of more mental health spending here, apart from red flag laws. It is worth noting that most gun deaths are suicides – 54% in 2020.
“The House of Representatives has already adopted the key measures we need, expanding inspections to cover almost all arms sales.
These measures, passed by the House, have no chance of being passed in the Senate, where a minority can suspend almost all legislation. To hear the argument against universal checks on the past, watch this interview from CNN’s Dana Bash with Representative Dan Crenshaw, a Republican from Texas.
“It’s time for the Senate to do something. But as we know, in order to … do something in the Senate, we need at least 10 Republican senators.”
Several Democrats have refused to end the debate over certain legislation. It takes 60 votes in the Senate to do anything. Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, the Democrats’ chief negotiator, said Thursday that he was “prepared for failure.”
“I support the bipartisan efforts, which include a small group of Democratic and Republican senators trying to find a way. But, my God, the fact that the majority of Republicans in the Senate do not want any of these proposals even to be discussed or to go to the polls I find unfair. “
Biden shares the math with the Americans here – it takes 10 Republicans to pass a law. What legislation will 10 Republicans support without losing Democrats? Whatever it is, it is the legislation that can pass according to the rules in force.
“Since Uwalde, just over a week ago, there have been 20 other mass shootings in America, each with four or more people killed or injured, including yesterday at a hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
So far, there have been more than 200 mass shootings in 2022, according to the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive – including the Tulsa shooting. These are more shootings than days so far this year.
“If Congress fails, I believe that the majority of the American people will not give up this time either. I believe that the majority of you will act and turn your indignation into making this issue central to your vote. Enough, enough, enough.”
Presidents usually do not encourage people to vote for one country in the White House, where they represent the whole country.
“It’s time for each of us to do our part. It’s time to act. For the children we lost, for the children we can save, for the nation we love.”
One thing we know: more children will die this year from gun violence.
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