President Joe Biden invoked victims’ family members in imploring an evenly divided Senate to “do something” in response to a spate of mass shootings, saying schools had become like “killing fields” and that it was time to “meet the moment.”
The president said Thursday that the federal bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines should be reinstated, arguing that the expiration of these provisions led to an increase in mass shootings. The age at which certain weapons could be purchased should go up, he said, adding that immunity for gun manufacturers should also be lifted. Safe storage should be required, and background checks should be expanded, Biden continued.
“Enough,” Biden whispered. He said parents had to do “DNA swabs” to identify their children because the powerful weapons made their corpses unrecognizable and swatted away practical and constitutional objections to his proposals. “Don’t tell me raising the age won’t make a difference,” Biden said. “Enough.”
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Biden opened by talking about the rows of crosses he and first lady Jill Biden saw on Memorial Day. He likened it to the crosses he saw commemorating the 19 schoolchildren and two teachers killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, last week.
“This isn’t about taking away guns or vilifying gun owners,” Biden said, adding that the Second Amendment is “not absolute.” While he said “responsible” gun owners had little to fear from his proposals, he identified no new executive actions and repeated his endorsement of most major Democratic gun control bills.
The deadly Texas school shooting heightened calls to address guns before the midterm elections. Biden has been under pressure to use both executive authority and his persuasive powers on Capitol Hill to push through policy changes liberals believe will reduce gun violence. The White House repeatedly cited Biden’s success in getting gun control passed in the 1990s as evidence that he is up to the task now while also arguing the president cannot do it alone.
The administration has found that its options to use executive power are limited. Legislation is also complicated by the fact that the Senate is evenly divided. Any bill would be subject to the 60-vote filibuster threshold, requiring at least 10 Republicans to vote for it, and some proposals could not garner a simple majority in the chamber.
But bipartisan gun negotiations have been taking place in the Senate. Biden has given mixed signals on whether he is involved in them, though he expressed his support Thursday night. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has pledged that there will be a vote no matter what happens in the gun talks. Biden’s remarks seemed squarely aimed at GOP senators.
“The question is now what will the Congress do,” Biden said. He celebrated measures that have passed through the Democratic-controlled House, including a bill advanced by the Judiciary Committee earlier Thursday, and challenged the Senate to do the same.
“My God, the fact is the majority of the Senate Republicans don’t want any of these proposals even to be debated,” Biden said, laying down a marker in an election year. Democrats are defending the narrowest of majorities in both chambers of Congress.
Biden did call for an expansion of mental health services, a mild concession to Republicans. But he mostly advocated proposals that would have a hard time getting at least 10 Senate GOP votes. “The gun industry’s special protections are outrageous,” he said, comparing gun manufacturers to tobacco companies, adding that “it must end.” He called filibustering his preferred measures “unconscionable.”
Red flag laws empowering law enforcement to confiscate firearms temporarily from individuals exhibiting suspicious behaviors have emerged as a policy that could receive bipartisan support. Biden called for their enactment on a federal basis Thursday night.
The president had previously called for the return of the assault weapons ban, which he helped pass as part of the 1994 crime bill during his time in the Senate. The ban lapsed under former President George W. Bush, and subsequent Democratic majorities have done little to revive it.
That wasn’t Biden’s only experience as a gun control advocate. As vice president, he was President Barack Obama’s gun violence point man after the Sandy Hook school shooting. No federal legislation ended up being passed.
“This is something that the president has been doing since day one,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday. “And not only that, you know, he worked on this in the Senate. You know, he knows how to get this done, and he’s done it before. As a senator, he helped pass our ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, as well as enacted legislation that made the federal gun background check … we use today.”
“He has the most executive actions than any president at this time in this administration,” she later added.
“He’s beaten the gun lobby before,” Jean-Pierre said again Thursday. “He did that in the Senate, and during his Congress days, he beat the gun lobby.”
The police response to the Uvalde shooting is also under scrutiny, leading many to no longer regard the massacre as solely a matter of gun access. Officers waited to confront the shooter as he continued his rampage. The school police chief has become a particular person of interest in figuring out what took so long to stop the gunman.
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Biden repeatedly used imagery of children smeared with blood in classrooms and grieving families, hoping the emotional pull would overcome his low job approval ratings as he tried to use the bully pulpit to get gun legislation across the finish line.
“How much more carnage are we willing to accept?” Biden questioned.
