Calling gun violence an “epidemic” in America, a “blemish on our character as a nation,” and “an international embarrassment,” President Joe Biden on Thursday blasted Congress, declaring, “Enough prayers. Time for some action.”
President Biden promised to use all his power to “keep the American people safe from gun violence,” but he also placed blame and responsibility at Congress’ feet.
“There’s much more that Congress can do,” President Biden said in a Rose Garden ceremony, “and they can do it right now. They’ve offered plenty of thoughts and prayers, members of Congress. But they’ve passed not a single new federal law to reduce gun violence.”
“Enough prayers. Time for some action.”
Republican members of Congress rush to deliver “thoughts and prayers” after the more-publicized mass shootings, but refuse to take any action, often, albeit falsely, claiming they are protecting the Second Amendment.
Biden blasted that claim:
Biden on Thursday signed six executive orders on gun violence, “including asking the Department of Justice to issue a proposed rule to regulate the sale of so-called ‘ghost guns’ within 30 days,” ABC News reports. “Those firearms are assembled from kits of parts purchased online and don’t have serial numbers, making them difficult to track.”
He also told reporters if there were one thing he could do it would be to repeal the federal law that gives gun manufacturers immunity from prosecution.
“If I get one thing on my list, the Lord came down and said, ‘Joe, you get one of these,’ give me that one,” Biden said. “Because I tell you what, there would be a come to the Lord moment these folks would have real quickly.”
Biden’s remarks were anything but meek, but before he spoke there was this moment:
His remarks earned him tremendous praise from observers: