Biden To Gun Safety Activists At UHart Event: 'You Cannot Give Up'

WEST HARTFORD/BLOOMFIELD/HARTFORD, CT — One of the main reasons Connecticut hosted the 2023 National Safer Communities Summit Friday was the state's tragic link to the school shooting scourge plaguing the nation.

But President Joe Biden, who delivered the keynote address at the all-day forum of policy makers and gun safety activists on the University of Hartford campus, said the problem goes beyond all the mass shootings like the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown.

"It's not just the shootings that make the headlines, it's the shootings that happen every single day — every damn day," Biden said emotionally. "There's a lot that we have to do."

Security, as should be expected, was tight on the campus, which is located in the towns of West Hartford, Bloomfield and Hartford.

Still, for the most part, the program went off on time (though Biden's talk was a few minutes late).

He spoke before a partisan crowd of supporters, gun safety advocates and, sadly, relatives of victims and survivors of past school shootings, both in Connecticut and the nation.

Biden told an enthusiastic throng at UHart's Lincoln Theater some of what he thinks must be accomplished if America's schoolchildren, and all Americans for that matter, are to feel safer.

Three goals, he said, are: Banning assault rifles for the public to purchase (such as AR-15s); federal mandates regarding the safe storage of all legal guns; and universal background checks for gun buyers nationwide, among other measures.

"These are common-sense requirements all responsible gun owners should abide by," he said, adding those are how American soldiers are trained when it comes to having weapons.

Biden's visit came on a day where several state and national activists spoke in support of enhanced gun safety laws, including Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, Gov. Ned Lamont, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., former U.S. representative Gabby Giffords, who survived being shot in 2011, and U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, a Connecticut native.

The president gave special kudos to Connecticut's congressional and Senate delegation, as well as Connecticut state government and the state's gun safety advocate base, for their role in promoting and passing tough state gun laws.

Connecticut's well-known tough gun laws were born from the horrific 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, in which 26, including 20 elementary school-aged children, were massacred by a 20-year-old disturbed former pupil with an AR-15.

Last week, Lamont signed a bipartisan legislative package that further tightened Connecticut's already tight gun laws.

Among the provisions: a ban on the open carrying of firearms in public, continuing to require concealed gun owners have a permit; increased bail and penalties for high-risk, repeat firearms offenders; tighter laws on so-called "ghost guns;" and, among other provisions, increased gun dealer accountability, namely having state officials issue notices of violation of gun dealers.

Connecticut's example

Biden said Connecticut is a model state when it comes to combating gun violence.

"I think on this issue and many other issues, you're the best delegation in the United States of America," Biden said of Connecticut policy makers.

He also complimented the army of Connecticut-based gun safety activists, many of them school shooting survivors or family members of school shooting victims.

Said Biden: "Some people in this room have turned their pain into purpose."

Much of Biden's talk, as well as the summit in general, was to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the passage of the "Bipartisan Safer Communities Act."

The federal legislation, signed into law by Biden in 2022, received support from both Democrats and Republicans, something Biden said was a major accomplishment during a time of highly partisan political divisions.

That legislation was a far-reaching package that addressed funding for mental health aid; protections for domestic violence victims and the ban of guns for domestic violence offenders; and enhanced reviews for gun buyers under age 21.

It's seen as the most comprehensive gun control legislation approved since an assault weapons ban in the 1990s, a ban that expired and hasn't been reinstated.

Much to do

Despite that, Biden said, policy makers have much to do.

"For me, it's an important first step," he said of last year's gun safety legislation. "There's far too much gun violence and that's why the summit is so important."

In addition to recapping last year's new gun safety law, though, Biden urged those in attendance to not give up their cause.

"I believe we've reached a tipping point in this nation, I swear to God," Biden said. "A lot of you are tired...A lot of people are frustrated.

"You cannot give up," he continued. "We will ban assault weapons in this country ... We will beat the gun industry."

Said Biden: "What in God's name are we becoming if we don't do this?"

• UHart Gun Safety Summit Draws Who's Who Of Activists
• To watch Joe Biden's full speech as well as all of the day's events, click on this link.
• From June 14: 'Biden To Visit UHart Friday For Gun Safety Summit'
• For more information on last week's State of Connecticut gun safety legislation package, click on this link.
• For more information on the 2022 'Bipartisan Safer Communities Act,' click on this link.