A fiery and determined President Joe Biden declared if the Republican-majority House and Democratic-majority Senate cannot pass legislation to combat gun violence they should be replaced with lawmakers who will.
“Congress needs to act. Let me be clear about something: If this Congress refuses to act we need a new Congress,” President Biden told cheering attendees at the National Safer Communities Summit in West Hartford, Connecticut on Friday, where he spoke passionately for 30 minutes before spending time with audience members.
“And we need states to act as well. Not every state has a governor as competent as Governor Lamont, and I mean that,” the President continued, praising the Connecticut Democrat who has signed numerous bills to strengthen gun violence prevention efforts into law, the latest just ten days ago.
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President Biden said governors across the country “can do a lot more,” and pointed to Gov. Ned Lamont’s “bipartisan legislation with more than a dozen measures to improve gun safety.”
The President was determined but also optimistic and even jovial.
He acknowledged many of the “people here who have been impacted by gun violence lost someone they loved, fought so hard for so many years. A lot of you are tired, tired, I get it. Try being 110 and doing it again,” Biden joked, while mocking those who have tried to make his age a campaign issue.
“All kidding aside, a lot of people are frustrated. My mother, God love her, all five-foot-one,” he said, “looked at me said ‘Joey, never bow. Never bend, never yield. Never kneel.’ We never will on this issue. Never, never, never, never never.”
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“Folks are we ever gonna make progress we need to make? I’m here to tell you we cannot give up.”
“I still remember the people I’ve met with in Newtown, in Orlando, and Las Vegas. In Pittsburgh, in Charleston. Parkland, El Paso, Uvalde Buffalo, Monterey Park and so many other places that never make the headlines. I’ve never forgotten them and I never will forget them. And I’ll never stop fighting for them, I promise you and I believe this is true that everyone in this room, you will never stop fighting for them as well.”
“We will ban assault weapons in this country. We will ban multi-round magazines. We will hold gun makers liable. We will beat the gun industry. We will beat big money that sits behind them. And the politicians who refuse to stand up and act. It won’t be easy. I have no illusions how fiercely they’ll fight back but I also have no illusions about the people in this room. Look at what you’ve already done here in Connecticut and around the country. Look at the movement that you built. Look at the people you’ve helped elect. Look at the progress you’ve made in state houses. Look at all the mothers organizing all across the country. Listen to the young people who’ve spoken out here today. They’re speaking for a whole generation.”
Watch clips of President Biden’s speech above or at this link, or his full speech at C-SPAN.