“Now is the time to mobilize this movement because this is our duty to the people of the nation. This is what we owe to those families in Buffalo, where a grocery store became a killing field. This is what we owe to those families in Uvalde, where a municipal school That’s what we owe to those families in Highland Park, where on the Fourth of July, a parade became a killing field,” Biden said. The President continued: “We owe this to all those families who are represented here today and across this country over the past many years in schools, places of worship, workplaces, shops, music festivals, nightclubs and so many other everyday spaces that have been turned into killing fields.” The President hosted victims of the Columbine mass shooting in Highland Park at a White House event celebrating the federal gun safety legislation he signed into law last month. The new law is the most significant federal legislation to address gun violence since the 1994 assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004. But the President acknowledged Monday that the law fell far short of what he and his party had advocated to stop the alarming rate of mass shootings in the US.
“It won’t save every life from the epidemic of gun violence, but if this law had gone into effect years ago, even this year, lives would have been saved. It matters. It matters. But it’s not enough and we all know that “, said the President. Biden was interrupted during his remarks by Manuel Oliver, whose son was killed in the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Oliver has been critical of the administration’s action on gun violence and said the new gun safety law doesn’t go far enough. The White House said the event featured mass shooting survivors from Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, Tucson, Sandy Hook, Parkland, Santa Fe, Uvalde, Buffalo and Highland Park, as well as “survivors and family members of his everyday acts of gun violence that don’t make national headlines.” Cabinet members and elected officials from communities affected by gun violence were also present. The President said he has spent so much time with families of shooting victims over the years that he has become “personal friends” with many. He thanked the families for their relentless advocacy for tougher gun laws, “to ensure that other families do not have to experience the same loss and pain.” The President said he is determined to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, which face a long chance of passing Congress given slim Democratic majorities in both chambers, saying: “I’m not going to stop until we do. ”
Biden supported investments the new legislation makes in community violence prevention, including $750 million to help states implement and run crisis intervention programs. The money can be used to implement and administer red flag programs — which through court orders can temporarily prevent people in crisis from accessing firearms — and other crisis intervention programs such as mental health courts, drug and veterans courts. It also closes a loophole in domestic violence laws known as the “friend loophole,” which barred people convicted of domestic violence crimes against spouses, partners with whom they shared children, or partners with whom they lived. having weapons. The old statute did not include intimate partners who may not live together, be married, or have children. Shortly before signing the legislation last month, Biden praised the families of gun violence victims he had met with. She said their activism in the face of loss had made a difference. “I want to especially thank the families that Jill and I (met), many of whom we sat with for hours, all over the country. There are so many that we’ve met who have lost their lives in an epidemic. They’ve lost their child, their husband, their wife,” Biden said. “Nothing is going to fill that void in their hearts. But they led the way so that other families don’t have to experience and pain and trauma that they had to go through.” Titled the Bipartisan Safe Communities Act, the bill had been introduced by Republican Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Tom Tillis of North Carolina, and Democratic Senators Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Kirsten Sinema of Arizona. It came together in the wake of recent mass shootings at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, located in a predominantly black neighborhood. This story was updated with additional developments Monday. CNN’s Donald Judd contributed to this report.