President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris announced new executive actions Thursday aimed at reducing gun violence, and capped off the afternoon with a press conference touting all the work the Biden-Harris administration has done on the issue, while slamming Republicans for their response to it.
“Guns are the number one – hard to believe – they’re the number one killer of children in America. More than any other cause – accidents – more than any other cause. It’s almost unbelievable – it’s sick,” Biden said from the White House’s East Room on Thursday. “Last year, after another school shooting, my predecessor said – like other members of Congress say – ‘Just get over it.’ I’m going to be very blunt, Secretary Vance from Ohio has called these shootings ‘facts of life.’ Who the hell do these people think they are?”
“Never was the Second Amendment meant to be absolute,” Biden said Thursday afternoon.
In addition to attacking Republicans, Biden also spent time during Thursday’s press conference touting the work his administration has done to reduce violent crime overall.
“A year before we came to the presidency, we saw the biggest increase in murder rates on record. Last year we saw the largest decrease in murder rates nationwide,” Biden said. “In the first half of 2024, in large cities across the country, the homicide rate dropped another 17%. Last year we also saw the lowest rates of all violent crime in more than 50 years.”