President Biden Hopeful Republicans Can Now Be ‘Rational’ On Guns After Uvalde Massacre
President Joe Biden said on Monday that the “Second Amendment was never absolute” and that after the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, there “may be some bipartisan support” to enact restrictions on the kind of high-powered weapons used by the teenage killer who was able to legally obtain the assault weapon he used to massacre nineteen children and two teachers.
“I think things have gotten so bad that everybody’s getting more rational, at least that’s my hope,” President Biden told reporters on the White House lawn after returning to Washington from his weekend at his home in Delaware. “The Second Amendment was never absolute,” President Biden said. “You couldn’t buy a cannon when the Second Amendment was passed. You couldn’t go out and buy a lot of weapons.”
The President’s comments came a day after he and the First Lady traveled to the shattered community of Uvalde, mourning privately for over three hours with anguished families grieving for the 21 victims. Faced with chants of “do something” as he departed a church service, President Biden pledged: “We will.”
To everyone impacted by the horrific elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas: We grieve with you. We pray with you. We stand with you. And we’re committed to turning this pain into action. pic.twitter.com/TIYjdmfKVP
— President Biden (@POTUS) May 29, 2022
When he arrived at the White House from Delaware for Memorial Day events, the President was asked if he’s now more motivated to see new federal limits imposed on firearms. “I’ve been pretty motivated all along,” he replied. “I’m going to continue to push and we’ll see how this goes.”
The gun shop where the Uvalde shooter bought his semi-automatic rifles allowed him to finance the transaction on a payment plan. Not only can a homicidal teenager buy guns in this country, he doesn't even need any money.
— Liam Nissan™ (@theliamnissan) May 30, 2022
A bipartisan group of senators met over the weekend to see if they could reach even a modest compromise on gun legislation after a decade of mostly failed efforts. That included encouraging state “red flag” laws to keep guns away from those with mental health problems.
Texas Democratic state Sen. Roland Gutierrez, who represents Uvalde, to CNN:
"If I do nothing for the rest of my career but yell at Greg Abbott and others that are not willing to listen, then that's what I'm going to do. We must have change."
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 30, 2022
President Biden said he hadn’t yet spoken to Republicans on the issue “but my guess is … they’re going to have to take a hard look.” The President also said “it makes no sense to be able to purchase something that can fire up to 300 rounds” and added, “The idea of these high powered weapons, there’s simply no rational basis for it.” He also said he had taken some executive actions on guns “but I can’t outlaw a weapon” and can’t “change the background checks” without Congress acting first.
We need to pass background checks. 100%. We need red flag laws in place. Absolutely.
But that's not enough.
We need an assault weapons ban.
The Uvalde terrorist turned 18, bought an AR-15, shot his grandmother in the face, then killed 19 kids & 2 teachers. #EnoughIsEnough
— Nick Knudsen 🇺🇸🇺🇦 (@NickKnudsenUS) May 30, 2022