Biden after Uvalde Elementary School Shooting: ‘Second Amendment Is Not Absolute’
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President Biden announced at a press briefing Wednesday that he and First Lady Jill Biden will be traveling to Uvalde, Texas, the site of the recent horrific elementary school shooting, to meet with the families of the victims, which included 19 children and two teachers.
He said they will be visiting in the “coming days.” Biden then transitioned to talking about what must be done to prevent such tragedies in the future, suggesting that gun control should be seriously considered.
“The Second Amendment is not absolute,” he said. “When it was passed you couldn’t own a cannon, you couldn’t own certain weapons.”
Vice President Kamala Harris took to the podium and echoed the president’s comments. “All of of hearts are with the people of Uvalde, Texas,” she said. “Enough is enough. Enough is enough.”
“We must pass reasonable gun safety laws,” she added.
Speaking at the White House Tuesday evening after returning from a foreign tour to Japan and South Korea, Biden alleged that the “gun lobby” was culpable for the shooting and suggested that he would attempt to limit assault weapons. He also ordered all flags at federal buildings worldwide be lowered to half-staff in memory of the victims.
During a previously scheduled event Tuesday evening, Harris urged Congress “to take action . . . to ensure something like this never happens again.”
On Tuesday morning, a single gunman, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, entered Robb Elementary School and began open firing at students in a fourth-grade classroom, a spokesman for the Uvalde County Sheriff’s Office told National Review. Ramos reportedly used a handgun and may have possessed a rifle, Texas governor Greg Abbott said in a press conference a few hours after the incident.
Much of the rest of the press conference Wednesday, which is the second anniversary of the day George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis a police officer, was dedicated to introducing Biden’s new executive order aimed at bolstering police accountability, which Harris claimed “will help protect our communities and help keep members of law enforcement safe on the job.”
“We are here today in memory of George Floyd and all those we have lost to take action,” she added. Biden promised that the executive order, which is supposed to be based on the Justice and Policing Act, will “deliver the most significant police reform in decades.”
