Mass shootings in America are a problem — particularly shootings at schools by students. On Monday, at a White House “celebration” marking the passage of a bipartisan gun bill, President Biden was heckled by the father of a school shooting victim who judged the president’s statements as too little too late and off point.
Manuel Oliver is the father of one of 17 people killed during a school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in February 2018.
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Curtis Houck, Managing Editor of @NewsBusters, noted that Oliver, telegraphed his intention to disrupt Biden’s speech during an interview with Joe Walsh on CNN.
Oliver tweeted his feeling that the word “celebration” was inappropriate given the solemn nature of the background to the legislation.
“The word CELEBRATION has no space in a society that saw 19 kids massacred just a month ago,” Oliver tweeted before the commemoration. “‘Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.’ Not me, not Joaquin.”
According to Fox News, President Biden paused when Oliver began to speak. After allowing him the opportunity to be quiet and sit down, Biden said:
“Sit down. You’ll hear what I have to say. We have one. Let me finish my comment. Let me talk.”
The Fox report noted that interruptions of speeches at the White House are rare due to significant vetting and security measures. The last incident occurred in 2006 during a meeting with then-President George W. Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao. That interruption resulted in the female heckler facing criminal charges.
Monday’s gathering was scheduled to recognize the passage of the first gun control measure coming out of Congress in 28 years — Senator John Cornyn, R-Texas, led 14 Senators to help pass the bipartisan bill.
According to a BBC report, the bill includes:
- “Tougher background checks for buyers younger than 21
- “$15bn … in federal funding for mental health programs and school security upgrades
- “Funding to encourage states to implement ‘red flag’ laws to remove firearms from people considered a threat
- “Closing the so-called ‘boyfriend loophole’ by blocking gun sales to those convicted of abusing unmarried intimate partners”
Seizing the opportunity to push for additional legislation, on Monday, Biden said the bipartisan bill, called the Safer Communities Act, should be just the first step toward a full ban on assault weapons.
During the ceremony, Biden said, according to the Fox News report: “Now is the time to galvanize this movement because that’s our duty to the people of this nation. We’re living in a country awash in weapons of war.”
Biden argued that assault weapons have no place in society, saying that civilians should not be allowed to have the same weapons as those in the military (though that provision was what the founding fathers ensured).
Nevertheless, Biden said that our current laws (and constitutional provisions) guaranteeing gun ownership rights “Make no sense. Assault weapons need to be banned. They were banned,” Biden said. “I’m determined to ban these weapons again.”
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