Joseph Biden actually said...
I had hoped that, when I became president, I would not have to do this again. It`s another massacre in Uvalde, Texas. It`s an elementary school. Beautiful, innocent second, third and the fourth graders. And how many scores of little children witnessed what happened and see their friends die as if they were in a battlefield, for God`s sake? They will live with it the rest of their lives. There is a lot we don`t know yet. There is a lot we do know. The parents who will never see their child again and never have them jump in bed and caught a little with them. It`s parents who will never be the same. As a nation, we have to ask, when in God`s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? Winning in God`s name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done? I am sick and tired. We have to act. And don`t tell me that we cannot have an impact on this carnage. I spent my career as a senator and as vice president working to pass common sense gun laws. We cannot prevent every tragedy. But we know that they work and have positive impact. When we passed the assault weapons ban, mass shootings went down. When the law expired, mass shootings tripled. The idea that an 18-year-old kid can walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons, it is just wrong. What in God`s name do you need an assault weapon for except to kill someone? They aren`t running through the forest with Kevlar vests on, for God`s sake. It`s just sick. I just got off a trip from Asia, meeting with Asian leaders. And I learned this while I was on the aircraft. What struck me on that 17 hour flight -- what struck me was that these kinds of shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world. Why? They have mental health problems. They have domestic disputes in other countries. They have people who are lost. But these kinds of mass shootings never happen with a kind of frequency that they happen in America. Why? Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen? It`s time to turn this pain into action. For every parent, every citizen of this country, we have to make it clear to every elected official in this country, that it is time to act. It is time for those who have obstructed or delay or block the common sense gun laws -- we need to let you know that we will not forget. We can do so much more. We have to do more.
05/24/2022