Biden makes Thanksgiving attack on ‘sick’ sale of semi-automatic weapons
President Joe Biden called sales of semiautomatic guns “sick” and continued to advocate for a ban on assault weapons and better red flag laws following mass shootings at a Chesapeake, Virginia Walmart and a Colorado Springs LGBTQ club.
“The idea that we’re still allowing semi-automatic guns to be bought is sick,” Biden told reporters Thursday, during a brief stop at the Nantucket Fire Department to bring first responders some Thanksgiving pumpkin pie. “It’s just sick. It has no, no social redemptive value. Zero. No. There’s no solitary reason for it except profit for the gun manufacturers.’
When he walked out to reporters, he also pushed back criticism of the red flag laws – that they can be used to attack people and take their guns, rather than remove guns from individuals who are actually dangerous – and called that idea “ridiculous.”
He mentioned how Delaware, with the help of his son, the late Beau Biden, had one of the first red flag laws in the country “and it made a big difference.”
Biden said he would continue to push for a ban on assault weapons.
“I’m going to try,” he said. “I’m going to try to get rid of assault weapons.”
When specifically asked if he would try to push Congress to move forward on the issue in the lame duck, he added, “I’m always going to do it — I have to make that assessment as I come in and start counting.” . to vote.’
President Joe Biden called semiautomatic gun sales “sick” and continued to push for assault weapons bans and better red flag laws following mass shootings at a Chesapeake, Virginia Walmart and a Colorado Springs LGBTQ club
Speaking to reporters outside the Nantucket fire station on Thanksgiving morning, President Joe Biden made public comments for the first time since the Chesapeake, Virginia Walmart shooting Tuesday night, in which an employee killed six
The Democrats will lose control of the House of Representatives when the new Congress begins in early January, but they retain a majority in the Senate.
The attack in Chesapeake came three days after people were gunned down at an LGBTQ club in Colorado Springs, Colorado and a week after a former University of Virginia football club killed three members of its current roster.
While these were the first public comments the president made since Tuesday night’s Chesapeake shooting, the laws Biden mentioned would have done more to stop the Colorado Springs shooter.
The gunman, 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich, brought an AR-style weapon and handgun to Club Q on Saturday night and had previously been charged with felony threats and first-degree kidnapping after voicing a bomb threat.
The gunman in Chesapeake, Virginia used a handgun that would not be covered by such a ban.
On Wednesday, as he had already arrived on Nantucket for his Thanksgiving break, the President expressed condolences to the families in Chesapeake, Virginia, in a statement.
Biden noted how families will mourn on “one of our most cherished holidays” instead of celebrating with their families.
“Because of yet another heinous and senseless act of violence, there are now even more tables across the country that will have empty seats this Thanksgiving,” Biden wrote in a statement.
“Jill and I grieve for those families, for the Chesapeake community and for the Commonwealth of Virginia, which suffered a terrible shooting at the University of Virginia this month,” he said.
“We also mourn all those across America who have lost loved ones to these tragic shootings where we must come together as a nation to resist,” Biden added.
A gunman, identified as 31-year-old Walmart employee Andre Bing, opened fire in the store cafeteria at 10:10 p.m. Tuesday, killing six.
At least five of the six victims were colleagues – identified by police as Lorenzo Gamble, Brian Pendleton, Kellie Pyle, Randall Blevins, Tyneka Johnson and a 16-year-old boy, whose name was withheld because he is a minor.
Police revealed that Bing had a manifesto, in which he wrote that he was being harassed by his Walmart colleagues.
A neighbor who lived next door to Bing said she silently watched him leave for his usual late shift.
Speaking to DailyMail.com, she said, “I’m shocked, especially when I saw how many people were dead. I was even more shocked when I heard it was him.’
“I didn’t realize it until I saw the FBI here this morning. My daughter saw them coming with the battering ram last night, but I didn’t hear anything,” the neighbor continued. ‘He kept to himself, he was always alone. No one else lived in that house.’
The neighbor recalled seeing “a man” at Bing’s house a few months ago “but that was it.”
‘It was just him. I’d see him mow his lawn and stuff, but he’d never talk. He was strange. “I tried to talk to him, but he just wasn’t interested at all,” she said.
“I’m so glad I didn’t talk to him. He appeared as he normally did, just got in his car and drove off. Nothing seemed different,’ the neighbor continued.
“All the time he was here, I never saw him with a gun or anything. It’s shocking. It’s a nice quiet area,” she added.
The White House said Wednesday that Biden called Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin to offer him federal aid.