Tags
A reminder
24 Thursday Nov 2022
Posted Uncategorized
in24 Thursday Nov 2022
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inTags
03 Thursday Nov 2022
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in23 Thursday Jun 2022
Posted Uncategorized
inTags
court expansion, gun violence, guns, Joe Biden, Merrick Garland, Mitch McConnell, U.S. Supreme Court, White House
Mitch McConnell (r) unilaterally reduced the U.S. Supreme Court to eight for almost a year. Fancy that.
Today from the White House:
Statement by President Joe Biden on Supreme Court Ruling on Guns
JUNE 23, 2022[….]
I am deeply disappointed by the Supreme Court’s ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. Since 1911, the State of New York has required individuals who would like to carry a concealed weapon in public to show a need to do so for the purpose of self-defense and to acquire a license. More than a century later, the United States Supreme Court has chosen to strike down New York’s long-established authority to protect its citizens. This ruling contradicts both common sense and the Constitution, and should deeply trouble us all.In the wake of the horrific attacks in Buffalo and Uvalde, as well as the daily acts of gun violence that do not make national headlines, we must do more as a society — not less — to protect our fellow Americans. I remain committed to doing everything in my power to reduce gun violence and make our communities safer. I have already taken more executive actions to reduce gun violence than any other President during their first year in office, and I will continue to do all that I can to protect Americans from gun violence.
I urge states to continue to enact and enforce commonsense laws to make their citizens and communities safer from gun violence. As the late Justice Scalia recognized, the Second Amendment is not absolute. For centuries, states have regulated who may purchase or possess weapons, the types of weapons they may use, and the places they may carry those weapons. And the courts have upheld these regulations.
I call on Americans across the country to make their voices heard on gun safety. Lives are on the line.
It’s time to expand the court.
20 Monday Jun 2022
Posted social media, US Senate
inTags
Eric Greitens, Fascist pig, gun violence, guns, irony, right wingnut, social media, Threats, U.S. Senate
No surprise.
This morning:
Eric Greitens for U.S. Senate @greitens_eric
Look out @Rep_TRichardson @jaybarnes5 @mikeparson @calebrowden @elijahhaahr, we’ve got our permits and we’re coming for you!
This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about abusive behavior. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible. Learn more
11:43 AM · Jun 20, 2022
A response from the Missouri Senate Majority Floor Leader (r):
Caleb Rowden @calebrowden
We have been in contact with the Missouri Highway Patrol and hope that former Gov Greitens finds the help he needs.Anyone with multiple accusations of abuse toward women and children should probably steer clear of this rhetoric. #MOSen #MOLeg
[….]
1:24 PM · Jun 20, 2022
It’s an inevitable result.
Michael Bersin @MBersin
First they came for the RINOs and I didn’t speak up because – there is no such thing as a “moderate” republican, they built this, and we should all appreciate the irony…
11:50 AM · Jun 20, 2022
You think a possible red flag law is looking pretty good right now?
Who could have known?
Previously:
Oh, my. (January 11, 2018)
Oh, my – part 2 (January 11, 2018)
Oh, my – part 3 (January 11, 2018)
אַ שאַנדע פֿאַר די גוים and *IOKIYAR (January 11, 2018)
Oh, my – part 4 (January 11, 2018)
Oh, my – part 5 (January 11, 2018)
Oh, my – part 6 (January 12, 2018)
Sen. Denny Hoskins (r): not exactly a ringing endorsement (January 12, 2018)
Gov. Eric Greitens (r): piping (January 16, 2018)
Oh, my – part 7 (January 16, 2018)
Waiting… (January 19, 2018)
Oh, my – part 8 (January 29, 2018)
The unanswered question (February 8, 2018)
RSMo § 565.252 (February 22, 2018)
Well, you were the one who used a blindfold and tape. (February 22, 2018)
Well, he was the one who used a blindfold and tape. (February 23, 2018)
A few words of advice (February 26, 2018)
Eric Greitens (r) and the House – pass the popcorn (March 6, 2018)
Oh, my – part 9 (March 6, 2018)
“That’s not how you spell bare.” (March 7, 2018)
It’s their world, the rest of us only get to live in it (April 8, 2018)
The popcorn is ready (April 10, 2018)
The Report (April 11, 2018)
Call it what it is (April 11, 2018)
Go away, asshole. (April 12, 2018)
Sen. Denny Hoskins (r-21): impeach Greitens (April 13, 2018)
Getting ironical about Greitens (April 13, 2018)
Standing ovation (April 14, 2018)
Quid pro quo (April 16, 2018)
It’s a fine mess he’s gotten himself into… (April 17, 2018)
Really, just go away… (April 17, 2018)
HR 6783: Impeachment (April 18, 2018)
Unhinged (April 19, 2018)
Really unhinged (April 19, 2019)
Seriously, just go away already… (April 20, 2018)
He doth protest too much, methinks… (April 20, 2018)
No, Chuck Raasch, nobody’s giving Eric Greitens’ scandals short shrift (April 22, 2018)
Does somebody want to tell them? (April 25, 2018)
Our life on the “D List” (April 30, 2018)
The Report – supplement (May 1, 2018)
HR 7432: Impeachment (May 1, 2018)
The second report (May 2, 2018)
Rep. Gina Mitten (D): shining a light in the dark money campaign finance neighborhood (May 2, 2018)
The process begins (May 4, 2018)
Campaign Finance: in the news (May 6, 2018)
Oxford coma (May 7, 2018)
A definition (May 13, 2018)
Felony invasion of privacy case against Eric Greitens (r) dropped (May 14, 2018)
“So far, so good…” (May 14, 2018)
Jean Peters Baker appointed as special prosecutor in Greitens (r) case (May 21, 2018)
Missouri House Special Investigative Committee on Oversight – transcript of witness deposition – cross examination (May 23, 2018)
Missouri House Special Investigative Committee on Oversight – transcript of witness deposition – on Koster and Greitens (May 22, 2018)
HR 2: Special Investigative Committee on Oversight – the process for impeachment (May 22, 2018)
Missouri House Special Investigative Committee on Oversight – Scott Faughn (May 23, 2018)
Missouri House Special Investigative Committee on Oversight – not going to allow “cherry picking” (May 25, 2018)
Missouri House Special Investigative Committee on Oversight – Michael Hafner (May 29, 2018)
Eric Greitens (r) resigns as Governor of Missouri (May 29, 2018)
State Auditor Nicole Galloway (D) on the resignation of Eric Greitens (r) as Governor of Missouri (May 29, 2018)
Senator Jill Schupp (D) on the resignation of Eric Greitens (r) as Governor of Missouri (May 29, 2018)
Statement by Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker on the resignation of Eric Greitens (r) as Governor of Missouri (May 29, 2018)
Representative Stacey Newman (D) on the resignation of Eric Greitens (r) as Governor of Missouri (May 29, 2018)
State Auditor Nicole Galloway (D): about those legal bills for Eric Greitens (r) submitted to the state… (June 9, 2018)
Eric Greitens (r) – quarterly campaign finance report – July 2018 (July 16, 2018)
Final Report of the Special Investigative Committee on Oversight in the matter of Governor Eric R. Greitens (January 2, 2019)
Eric Greitens (r): Were they stored in the basement? (March 31, 2020)
Eric Greitens (r): there’s always 2024 (June 10, 2020)
Eric Greitens (r) is having another one of those days (March 21, 2022)
20 Monday Jun 2022
Posted social media, US Senate
inTags
ad, cosplay, duct tape, Eric Greitens, Fascist pig, gun violence, guns, missouri, right wingnut, social media, U.S. Senate
Just asking.
This morning:
Eric Greitens @EricGreitens
We are sick and tired of the Republicans in Name Only surrendering to Joe Biden & the radical Left.Order your RINO Hunting Permit today!
[….]
8:30 AM · Jun 20, 2022
Some of the responses:
Oooh so tough!
Not a good ad.
Threatening others’ lives while cosplay the hero.
Sick.
This is disgusting. I’m sure it will appeal to the knuckle scrapers who would vote for you.
You’re a seditionist promoting more violence against your political enemies, all so you can regain the personal power you pissed away.
Ambition over America is a shit cause, Eric.
What the hell is wrong with you?
You are one sick son of a bitch
Just openly threatening people now, aren’t ya?
Cool commercial, dingus. Kinda heavy on policy though. May wanna dumb it down a little for folks who aren’t interested in the wonky minutiae of federal legislation and the machinations of the law with respect to the historical interpretations and implications of the constitution
Are you guys training with the Uvalde police? They also liked to dress up like that
Do you tie them up before shooting them or is that just reserved for the women you’re having affairs with?
Oh my god what is wrong with you?
Seee above.
You think this is normal?
Really going for the 1930s Germany look there, aren’t you?
Irony, too, apparently?
In a world where we’ve lost so much as nation, you’re sick certifiably, sick
What, and I emphasize, the fuck?!
This is deeply embarrassing, like this is pandering to the dumbest voter imaginable. The people responding positively to this already live in hell, they just need to be entertained.
Big jump from duct taping women.
Not really.
So you are encouraging murder because of a difference of political beliefs?
Demonizing and dehumanizing your political opponents is an old trick of totalitarian regimes
The only way I’m watching this is if you tie me up with duct tape and force me against my will
And on and on….
15 Wednesday Jun 2022
Posted Uncategorized
inTags
gun violence, guns, K-12, missouri, Public Education, Terrorism
Today:
Cody Holyoke @CodyKMBC
[….] TEN districts have now cancelled summer school/district activities today because of a mass shooting threat in Blue Springs:
Blue Springs
Lee’s Summit R7
Independence
Fort Osage
Grain Valley
Oak Grove
Odessa
Lone Jack
Hickman Mills
KC Int’l AcademyUpdates on @kmbc
[….]
8:18 AM · Jun 15, 2022
21st Century American exceptionalism, eh?
12 Sunday Jun 2022
Posted Resist
inI can’t believe we still have to protest our nation doing absolutely nothing about gun violence.
Several hundred showed up at the Wisconsin capitol building yesterday afternoon to demonstrate against gun violence and our cultural inaction in addressing it – as one of several hundred such March for Our Lives events scheduled across the country.
The work is not done. Not even close.
Previously:
March for Our Lives – Kansas City – in Theis Park on Saturday, March 24, 2018 (March 20, 2018)
Another sign for the times (March 23, 2018)
March for Our Lives – Warrensburg, Missouri – March 24, 2018 (March 24, 2017)
March for Our Lives – Kansas City – Theis Park – March 24, 2018 – signs (March 24, 2018)
Are we tired of 2nd Amendment overkill (and I do mean kill) yet? (March 24, 2018)
Until this changes… (March 25, 2018)
March for Our Lives – Kansas City – Theis Park – March 24, 2018 – more signs (March 25, 2018)
March for Our Lives – Kansas City – Theis Park – March 24, 2018 – getting there (March 25, 2018)
March for Our Lives – Road to Change – Kansas City, Kansas – June 18, 2018 (June 19, 2018)
Ryan Deitsch – March for Our Lives – Road to Change – Kansas City, Kansas – June 18, 2018 (June 21, 2022)
08 Wednesday Jun 2022
Posted Roy Blunt, social media, US Senate
inWho else, right?
Yesterday:
Senator Roy Blunt @RoyBlunt
Today, I discussed the tragedy in Uvalde, Texas, and the importance of expanding access to mental health care.
[….]
5:01 PM · Jun 7, 2022
Some of the responses:
You’ve accepted over 4 million from the NRA to remain mute on guns.
You voted to repeal the ACA and take mental healthcare away from people. There was no replacement. Only repeal. [….]
BLUNT VOTES TO MOVE FORWARD ON BILL TO REPEAL & REPLACE OBAMACARE
July 25, 2017WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.) released the following statement after voting to begin debate on House-passed legislation that would repeal and replace Obamacare. The Senate now has the opportunity to consider amendments to the measure before it comes to a final vote.
“Obamacare has left Missouri families with higher costs, fewer options, and less access to quality health care,” Blunt said. “With today’s vote, I’m glad the Senate is moving forward with debate on the House-passed bill to repeal and replace Obamacare. All senators will now have the opportunity to offer amendments and look at ways we can improve the final product. My hope is that we will be able to find common ground on solutions that meet the needs of Missourians, and create a more stable and reliable health care system.”
What about common sense gun legislation? You aren’t up for re-election. Speak out. It’s time for some courage @RoyBlunt
See above.
You’ve consistently voted against gun safety legislation and expanding mental health resources while taking $4,500,000+ from the NRA. [….]
Too bad people experiencing mental health issues are more likely to be VICTIMS of gun violence rather than perpetrators
What about easy access to guns?Because that’s the ONE THING we have that’s different from anywhere else.
What will you do about America’s Gun Violence epidemic?
So the party always pushing cuts in social services and mental health care is expected to be seen as the party that understands the importance of expanding access to mental health care. Delicious.
Expanding mental health services wouldn’t have prevented the Uvalde school shooting.
It’s not too late for you to do the right thing and support common sense gun laws.
What about #AssaultWeaponsBan , expanded #backgroundchecks and enhanced #RedFlagLaws ? We need these measures to #StopGunViolence . Every nation in the world has citizens with mental health problems; no other nation has our level of #GunViolence .
Your legacy will be tied to future mass shootings with newly acquired AR-15’s. Live with that in your retirement. You had a chance to make a difference.
Do Americans have more mental health issues than any other country? No, in fact, we don’t. The difference is easy access to assault rifles. Please address the real problem!
Stop. It’s the unfettered access to guns and you know it
Expanding access to mental health care is good, but it’s not a replacement for actually addressing the problem – there are too many guns on the streets, and they are too powerful.
Don’t exploit mental health to enable mass murder.
For the love of Pete, your State, Missouri, is 51st in Mental Healthcare access and would do less if it could. This isn’t serious. It’s the guns.
Does he think the Uvalde shooter wanted access to mental healthcare, but couldn’t get it?
Ok so what bills are you sponsoring or supporting that does such a thing? ACA? Medicaid expansion? CHIP? Where’s that Trump healthcare that was supposed to be “terrific,” “phenomenal” and “fantastic”?
How about some gun safety laws? Do you not care if children are shot at school? Do you not care if people are shot in a church or grocery store? Think about what you can do as a senator to make Missourians safer while they go about their daily lives.
What a brave stance… that no one opposes, doesn’t hurt your finances, and doesn’t meaningfully address school shootings.
No one thought you’d risk future lobbyist dollars/rubles for the safety of school children.
We see what you did there.
So, you’re sticking with *Thoughts & Prayers* #WhatsYourLegacy
Roy, Roy, Roy.
Stop it. You know, I know, all countries have mental health issues. Other countries have universal health care. BUT dude, none of those other countries have mass killings because none of those other countries allow citizen, especially 18 y/o, to buy assault rifles.
Unfortunately, it’s the expanded access to weapons of war that is the reason for the gun violence in our country.
He knows that. He doesn’t care.
Yes, we have heard this song and dance many times before. Please just be honest and say that the gop will never oppose the nra.
The NRA has contributed millions of dollars to Missouri’s senators. Sen. Roy Blunt is the fourth-largest NRA benefactor in Congress, with more than $4.5 million in help since 1996, and Sen. Josh Hawley is the 12th, approaching $1.4 million in contributions in just four years.
Now what about passing gun safety reform?
Good idea. Because the US is the only country in the world with mental health problems, which explains why it’s the only country in the world with regular mass shootings. Thanks, Roy!
Wait one minute! This is not the first mass shooting. It is NOT the first time you (and Republican) have used mental health as an excuse. Please tell me, what have YOU done, in all these years, to, even once, increase/improve mental health treatment, just one, I’ll wait.
This message brought to you by @RoyBlunt a wholly owned subsidiary of the Gun Manufacturing Lobby.
“No number of dead school children is too high a price to pay.”
Guns! It’s the Guns Roy! If I can’t drive an Indy car 300 mph to the grocery store, Jim Bob doesn’t need an AR 15 to shoot varmit
Narrator: “It was never about the varmints.”
It’s the guns.
Do the right thing, Roy. It’s already too late for many sweet innocent children. Enact common sense gun regulations.
It’s Roy Blunt (r). It’s not gonna happen.
ROY. IT’S THE GUNS.
This is nothing but a smoke screen. Tougher gun laws are needed. Why does anyone need an AR-15? They don’t! These guns need to be banned. This is a weak answer to this epidemic.
On behal
f of those of us in the mental health field, we’ll believe it when we see it.
Narrator: “They never did.”
That’s terrific, @royblunt. Now do guns
$4.5 million from the NRA.
Which roughly translated as “blah blah blah, not going to do anything about it, blah blah 2nd amendment, blah blah, ya still not going to do anything about it
It’s
The
GunsCoward.
Translator: Today I did absolutely nothing to combat the issue of gun violence in America. Thank you. Now if you will excuse me I have some NRA donations to count.
It’s the guns.
We see who you are.
It’s not mental healthcare…it’s the guns.FFS.
Way to deflect from the real problem, ya know… the guns.
4 million dollars sure is worth other peoples kids dying though huh?
4 MILLION from the NRA! #NRABloodMoney
GFY
And you’ll more than likely vote no on any gun bill that goes to the Senate. Gotta keep the NRA happy. Right, Roy?
JFC
Guns are the problem but you just can’t walk away from that good ol NRA cash. How many kids have to die before you have enough money?
It’s the guns. No matter how many millions you take from the NRA, it’s the guns. @RoyBlunt
FU
Did you ask discuss the millions $ the NRA has given you. Or as I like to call it your pivot payment. Pivot to anything other than guns, am I right Senator?
Is this a joke? What about guns?????
#ItsTheGunsStupid #GunControlNow
It’s the guns Roy. You are complicit in the piles of dead children. YOU.
That alone won’t solve the problem. You’re not interested in doing anything.
And on and on.
06 Monday Jun 2022
Posted social media, US Senate
inTags
gun violence, guns, missouri, social media, Texas, Twitter, U.S. Senate, Uvalde, Vicky Hartzler
Read the room. Seriously.
This morning:
Rep. Vicky Hartzler @RepHartzler
Taking away Americans’ #2A rights is the wrong approach to protect our schoolchildren.Instead, Congress should be working to empower our law enforcement to protect our education centers and provide our schools with the resources needed to increase security.
[….]
8:17 AM · Jun 6, 2022
Because doing the same thing and expecting a different result is what?
Some of the responses:
Why does anyone need to own a gun designed to kill a lot of people very, very quickly?
Oh yes, because the police did so much for those children at #Ulvade [….]
Laws work ol’ girl, get to making and fixing them! [….]
But, but, that’s not NRA dogma.
The bubble of Active Shooter Drills has already burst Vick. It is time to remove the availability of the weapons themselves, period.
Let this sink in, “today’s school shooters have been through the Active Shooter Drills, they know the procedures, & protocols, you cannot hide.”
As a former teacher you should remember teachers personally purchase a lot of the supplies that should be provided for them. They’re spending their personal $$$ that they don’t have for our children. How is it you can find Fed $$ for guns and ammo, but not dry erase markers?
Your mistake is in believing Vicky Hartzler’s (r) “solutions” don’t require out-of-pocket expenditures by teachers.
2A was SPECIFICALLY focused on State Militias. The National Guard is what the State Militias became & addresses both the well trained & uninfringed in 2A. The idea of individuals with unlimited gun access/rights is a bastardization of 2A & impedes every other liberty we have.
Hartzler, you went to the same Archie High School I did and I grew up on a farm 2 miles from yours
Explain why back in our school days we had open doors, no guards and no worries about mass shootings. Why? We had mental sickies back then too [….]
Could it be that there no AR-15
[….] How do propose to protect all public areas, events & venues 24hrs a day? The #2A was ratified in 1789, the flintlock/musket was the state of art weapon, 2 shot pr/min, close range for accuracy.
The advance of weaponry now is compatible of hot air ballon to moon landing ..
Because we saw how well that worked in Texas.
Massachusetts has a well-regulated and constitutional approach to gun ownership, and it’s way, way safer than Texas.
Your approach is wrong.
Even though you continue to stand on #2A incorrectly, it also also didn’t say that your rights includes any kind of gun that will ever be invented no matter what it’s for and what it causes. Founders (incorrectly) thought future leaders would also carry common sense
What’s the word on chuch goers, grocery shoppers, those at the mall, walking in the street on Saturday night, at a concert in Las Vergas or anywhere else, at Temple at a spa or in Missouri that is 2nd for men killing women & 80% of those homicides are with a gun? What about them
Before I take you seriously, tell me how much money the @NRA has given you. What’s your #NRA rating!
Sycophant.
No Vicky you are wrong. Guns are absolutely the problem.
Have you done anything to help?
Narrator: “No.”
Maybe our well-regulated militias should stop attacking schools.
What’s that? Those aren’t militias? #2A
Coward
The mistake you might make is that Vicky Hartzler believes that Americans being massacred is bad. Not true! Massacres are the most important part of our heritage as Americans and she is dedicated to making sure the next generation can look forward to even more of them.
Just admit you are fine with kids being murdered.
No one needs an AR-15, designed to kill a maximum number of humans in a short time. They frighten (not to mention) kill children, adults, and cops. How many AR-15s do you own, Vicky? Why are you defending ownership of them? NRA money? There were 21 mass shootings this weekend.
What about malls, hospitals, concerts, parks, supermarkets? #GFY
Is there anything good that you stand for?
Narrator: “No.”
So children should enter a fortress to attend class, where their teachers are packin’ heat and the principal keeps an arsenal locked up in the back office.
But let’s not traumatize the kids by asking them to wear a mask![….]
The GQP cult is just weird.
I used to think they were weird. Then they got creepy. Now they’re just straight up monsters.
If the @GOP has their way, excuse me the way of their biggest briber the @NRA, they would suggest we all just wear body armor everyday of our lives to every destination that we go to because Freedumb.
And those that can’t afford the body armor, they should have pulled themselves up by their bootstraps harder.
Guns are subject to regulation per SCOTUS. You are using extremist language in an attempt to scare people of something that is, in fact, not happening. That makes you a pandering LIAR and your legislation performance art.
Schools are enough like prisons the way it is. Metal detectors and armed officers walking the halls. We need not have so many loopholes so nut jobs can buy deadly weapons!!! Stop pandering to the NRA and take action to save children’s lives!
I’m sorry, I don’t understand why we want to live in a country here you have armed people outside schools, it’s like something you see in a dystopian movie. It’s disgusting. Basically you don’t want to address the actual issue. You are pathetic and weak
Wrong again, you gunhumping #NRABloodMoney whore. How much do you earn on a per-death basis for your absolutely unconstitutional stance that private weapon ownership “to overthrow U.S. government is in any way covered by 2A? You’re a lying #GOPDomesticTerrorist. We see you.
03 Friday Jun 2022
Posted social media
inTags
gun violence, guns, Joe Biden, president, social media, Twitter
“…Erase the invisible line that is dividing our nation. Come up with a solution and fix what’s broken and make the changes that are necessary to prevent this from happening again…”
Last night:
President Biden @POTUS
United States government official
We should reinstate the ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines that we passed in 1994.In the ten years it was law, mass shootings went down.
After Republicans let the law expire in 2004 — and those weapons were allowed to be sold again — mass shootings tripled.
6:42 PM · Jun 2, 2022
Remarks by President Biden on Gun Violence in America
JUNE 02, 2022Cross Hall
7:32 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: On Memorial Day this past Monday, Jill and I visited Arlington National Cemetery.
As we entered those hallowed grounds, we saw rows and rows of crosses among the rows of headstones, with other emblems of belief, honoring those who paid the ultimate price on battlefields around the world.
The day before, we visited Uvalde — Uvalde, Texas. In front of Robb Elementary School, we stood before 21 crosses for 19 third and fourth graders and two teachers. On each cross, a name. And nearby, a photo of each victim that Jill and I reached out to touch. Innocent victims, murdered in a classroom that had been turned into a killing field.
Standing there in that small town, like so many other communities across America, I couldn’t help but think there are too many other schools, too many other everyday places that have become killing fields, battlefields here in America.
We stood at such a place just 12 days before, across from a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, memorializing 10 fellow Americans — a spouse, a parent, a grandparent, a sibling — gone forever.
At both places, we spent hours with hundreds of family members who were broken and whose lives will never be the same. And they had one message for all of us: Do something. Just do something. For God’s sake, do something.
After Columbine, after Sandy Hook, after Charleston, after Orlando, after Las Vegas, after Parkland, nothing has been done.
This time, that can’t be true. This time, we must actually do something.
The issue we face is one of conscience and common sense.
For so many of you at home, I want to be very clear: This is not about taking away anyone’s guns. It’s about vili- — not about vilifying gum [sic] — gun owners. In fact, we believe we should be treating responsible gun owners as an example of how every gun owner should behave. I respect the culture and the tradition and the concerns of lawful gun owners.
At the same time, the Second Amendment, like all other rights, is not absolute. It was Jus- — it was Justice Scalia who wrote, and I quote, “Like most rights, the right…” — Second Amendment — the rights granted by the Second Amendment are “not unlimited.” Not unlimited. It never has been.
There have always been limitations on what weapons you can own in America. For example, machine guns have been federally regulated for nearly 90 years. And this is still a free country.
This isn’t about taking away anyone’s rights. It’s about protecting children. It’s about protecting families. It’s about protecting whole communities. It’s about protecting our freedoms to go to school, to a grocery store, and to a church without being shot and killed.
According to new data just released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, guns are the number one killer of children in the United States of America. The number one killer. More than car accidents. More than cancer.
Over the last two decades, more school-aged children have died from guns than on-duty police officers and active-duty military combined. Think about that: more kids than on-duty cops killed by guns, more kids than soldiers killed by guns.
For God’s sake, how much more carnage are we willing to accept? How many more innocent American lives must be taken before we say “enough”? Enough.
I know that we can’t prevent every tragedy. But here’s what I believe we have to do. Here’s what the overwhelming majority of the American people believe we must do. Here’s what the families in Buffalo and Uvalde, in Texas, told us we must do.
We need to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. And if we can’t ban assault weapons, then we should raise the age to purchase them from 18 to 21. Strengthen background checks. Enact safe storage laws and red-flag laws. Repeal the immunity that protects gun manufacturers from liability. Address the mental health crisis deepening the trauma of gun violence and as a consequence of that violence.
These are rational, commonsense measures. And here’s what it all means. It all means this: We should reinstate the assault weapons ban and high-capacity magazines that we passed in 1994 with bipartisan support in Congress and the support of law enforcement. Nine categories of semi-automatic weapons were included in that ban, like AK-47s and AR-15s.
And in the 10 years it was law, mass shootings went down. But after Republicans let the law expire in 2004 and those weapons were allowed to be sold again, mass shootings tripled. Those are the facts.
A few years ago, the family of the inventor of the AR-15 said he would have been horrified to know that its design was being used to slaughter children and other innocent lives instead of being used as a military weapon on the battlefields, as it was designed — that’s what it was designed for.
Enough. Enough.
We should limit how many rounds a weapon can hold. Why in God’s name should an ordinary citizen be able to purchase an assault weapon that holds 30-round magazines that let mass shooters fire hundreds of bullets in a matter of minutes?
The damage was so devastating in Uvalde, parents had to do DNA swabs to identify the remains of their children — 9- and 10-year-old children.
Enough.
We should expand background checks to be- — keep guns out of the hands of felons, fugitives, and those under restraining orders.
Stronger background checks are something that the vast majority of Americans, including the majority of gun owners, agree on.
I also believe we should have safe storage laws and personal liability for not locking up your gun.
The shooter in Sandy Hook came from a home full of guns that were too easy to access. That’s how he got the weapons — the weapon he used to kill his mother and then murder 26 people, including 20 first graders.
If you own a weapon, you have a responsibility to secure it — every responsible gun owner agrees — to make sure no one else can have access to it, to lock it up, to have trigger locks. And if you don’t and something bad happens, you should be held responsible.
We should also have national red-flag laws so that a parent, a teacher, a counselor can flag for a court that a child, a student, a patient is exhibiting violent tendencies, threatening classmates, or experiencing suicidal thoughts that makes them a danger to themselves or to others.
Nineteen states and the District of Columbia have red-flag laws. The Delaware law is named after my son, Attorney General Beau Biden.
Fort Hood, Texas, 2009 — 13 dead and more than 30 injured.
Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, 2018 — 17 dead, 17 injured.
In both places, countless others suffering with invisible wounds.
Red-flag laws could have stopped both these shooters.
In Uvalde, the shooter was 17 when he asked his sister to buy him an assault weapon, knowing he’d be denied because he was too young to purchase one himself. She refused.
But as soon as he turned 18, he purchased two assault weapons for himself. Because in Texas, you can be 18 years old and buy an assault weapon even though you can’t buy a pistol in Texas until you’re 21.
If we can’t ban assault weapons, as we should, we must at least raise the age to be able to purchase one to 21.
Look, I know some folks will say, “18-year-olds can serve in the military and fire those weapons.” But that’s with training and supervision by the best-trained experts in the world. Don’t tell me raising the age won’t make a difference.
Enough.
We should repeal the liability shield that often protects gun manufacturers from being sued for the death and destruction caused by their weapons. They’re the only industry in this country that has that kind of immunity.
Imagine — imagine if the tobacco industry had been immune from being sued — where we’d be today. The gun industry’s special protections are outrageous. It must end.
And let there be no mistake about the psychological trauma that gun violence leaves behind.
Imagine being that little girl — that brave little girl in Uvalde who smeared the blood off her murdered friend’s body onto her own face to lie still among the corpses in her classroom and pretend she was dead in order to stay alive. Imagine — imagine what it would it be like for her to walk down the hallway of any school again.
Imagine what it’s like for children who experience this kind of trauma every day in school, in the streets, in communities all across America.
Imagine what it is like for so many parents to hug their children goodbye in the morning, not sure whether they’ll come back home.
Unfortunately, too many people don’t have to imagine that at all.
Even before the pandemic, young people were already hurting. There’s a serious youth mental health crisis in this country, and we have to do something about it.
That’s why mental health is at the heart of my Unity Agenda that I laid out in the State of the Union Address this year.
We must provide more school counselors, more school nurses, more mental health services for students and for teachers, more people volunteering as mentors to help young people succeed, more privacy protection and resources to keep kids safe from the harms of social media.
This Unity Agenda won’t fully heal the wounded souls, but it will help. It matters.
I just told you what I’d do. The question now is: What will the Congress do?
The House of Representatives has already passed key measures we need. Expanding background checks to cover nearly all gun sales, including at gun shows and online sales. Getting rid of the loophole that allows a gun sale to go through after three business days even if the background check has not been completed.
And the House is planning even more action next week. Safe storage requirements. The banning of high-cama- — -capacity magazines. Raising the age to buy an assault weapon to 21. Federal red-flag law. Codifying my ban on ghost guns that don’t have serial numbers and can’t be traced. And tougher laws to prevent gun trafficking and straw purchases.
This time, we have to take the time to do something. And this time, it’s time for the Senate to do something.
But, as we know, in order to do any- — get anything done in the Senate, we need a minimum of 10 Republican senators.
I support the bipartisan efforts that include a small group of Democrats and Republican senators trying to find a way. But my God, the fact that the majority of the Senate Republicans don’t want any of these proposals even to be debated or come up for a vote, I find unconscionable.
We can’t fail the American people again.
Since Uvalde, 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.
A shooter deliberately targeted a surgeon using an assault weapon he bought just a few hours before his rampage that left the surgeon, another doctor, a receptionist, and a patient dead, and many more injured.
That doesn’t count the carnage we see every single day that doesn’t make the headlines.
I’ve been in this fight for a long time. I know how hard it is, but I’ll never give up. And if Congress fails, I believe this time a majority of the American people won’t give up either. I believe the majority of you will act to turn your outrage into making this issue central to your vote.
Enough. Enough. Enough.
Over the next 17 days, the families in Uvalde will continue burying their dead.
It will take that long in part because it’s a town where everyone knows everyone, and day by day they will honor each one they lost.
Jill and I met with the owner and staff of the funeral home that is being strong — strong, strong, strong — to take care of their own.
And the people of Uvalde mourn. As they do over the next 17 days, what will we be doing as a nation?
Jill and I met with the sister of the teacher who was murdered and whose husband died of a heart attack two days later, leaving behind four beautiful, orphaned children — and all now orphaned.
The sister asked us: What could she say? What could she tell her nieces and nephews?
It was one of the most heartbreaking moments that I can remember. All I could think to say was — I told her to hold them tight. Hold them tight.
After visiting the school, we attended mass at Sacred Heart Catholic Church with Father Eddie.
In the pews, families and friends held each other tightly. As Archbishop Gustavo spoke, he asked the children in attendance to come up on the altar and sit on the altar with him as he spoke.
There wasn’t enough room, so a mom and her young son sat next to Jill and me in the first pew. And as we left the church, a grandmother who had just lost her granddaughter passed me a handwritten letter.
It read, quote, “Erase the invisible line that is dividing our nation. Come up with a solution and fix what’s broken and make the changes that are necessary to prevent this from happening again.” End of quote.
My fellow Americans, enough. Enough. It’s time for each of us to do our part. It’s time to act.
For the children we’ve lost, for the children we can save, for the nation we love, let’s hear the call and the cry. Let’s meet the moment. Let us finally do something.
God bless the families who are hurting. God bless you all.
From a hymn based on the 91st Psalm sung in my church:
May He raise you up on eagle’s wings
and bear you on the breath of dawn
make you to shine like the sun
and hold you in the palm of His hand.That’s my prayer for all of you. God bless you.
7:49 P.M. EDT
“…Enough. Enough…”