President Joe Biden highlighted his administration’s efforts to impose gun restrictions on Tuesday, just hours after his son Hunter Biden was found guilty of three firearm-related felony charges in Delaware.
Joe Biden opened his speech, held at an Everytown for Gun Safety event in Washington, D.C., by declaring that gun violence prevention has been a “passion” of his “for a long, long time” before recounting his own relationship with personal tragedy — the death of his first wife and daughter.
“Never give up on hope,” he stated before being interrupted by a pro-Palestinian protester claiming he was abetting “genocide” in the Middle East.
The president eventually continued by noting that in two weeks, he plans to celebrate the second anniversary of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, a 2022 gun reform bill that dealt with background checks and red flag laws.
“Folks, this historic law is already saving lives, but there’s still so much more to do to maximize the benefits,” Joe Biden continued before calling for the reinstatement of his ’90s-era ban on “assault weapons” and high-capacity magazines, lines that earned applause and chants of “four more years” from the crowd.
The president did not mention Hunter Biden’s conviction during his remarks, but he issued a statement earlier in the day reiterating he remained proud of his son and that he would “accept the outcome” of the trial. The president and White House had previously stated that he would not pardon Hunter Biden if found guilty in either the gun case or a separate felony tax trial scheduled to begin in September in California.
Hunter Biden, who was found to have lied about his drug use in a form while purchasing a gun in 2018, faces nearly 30 years in prison for the charge and two others but, as a first-time offender, is expected to serve a reduced sentence.
Biden departed Washington after his speech for an unscheduled trip to Delaware, where he will presumably visit with his son and family. He was previously slated to travel from the White House to Italy on Wednesday to attend a G7 leaders summit. First lady Jill Biden was already in Wilmington while she attended Hunter Biden’s trial.
“We are not finished,” the president said in closing his speech. “No single action can solve the entirety of the gun violence epidemic, but together, our efforts, your efforts, are saving lives. You can help rally a nation with a sense of urgency and seriousness of purpose. You’re changing the culture.”
White House officials fashioned the president’s Tuesday remarks as building on outreach and community engagement carried out by the White House Office of Gun Violence Protection, which the president launched in the fall of 2023.
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The Biden administration championed new data published this week that showed murders, robberies, and all violent crime dropping by 15%-26% across the first quarter of 2024.
You can watch Joe Biden’s remarks in full below.
