President Joe Biden touted his efforts to curb gun violence as necessary for reducing crime, saying a landmark law he signed last year was already saving lives.
“For those who say they’re concerned about crime, you can’t deal with crime without dealing with gun violence. It’s a simple proposition,” Biden said at the National Safer Communities Summit, a gathering of the nation’s leading gun-reform organizations, in West Hartford, Connecticut, on Friday.
Biden’s event was intended to mark the one-year anniversary of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the most significant federal gun-safety law in decades. The president said the law was already seeing results, with fewer murders and less gun violence.
But he added that his efforts to strengthen gun laws were not finished, even though the Republican-controlled House is unlikely to consider any such measures.
“We know what to do. Congress needs to act,” he said. “If this Congress doesn’t act, we need a new Congress.”
Biden reiterated his calls for approving universal background checks and a ban on assault-style weapons, such as the AR-15, and for ending legal immunity for firearm manufacturers.
“They’re not only a weapon of war, they’re the single-biggest driver of profits for the gun industry,” Biden said about AR-15s. “That’s why they’re selling them. Profit. Profit. Profit.”
The administration has sought to act on its own to address gun violence in the aftermath of recent mass shootings. But those efforts are unlikely to satisfy gun-control advocates who have urged Biden to take even more aggressive executive action.
The Biden administration on Friday took steps to make it easier for young people, particularly those affected by gun violence, to receive mental health services. The heads of the US Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Services wrote to governors to highlight resources and efforts to help states support students’ mental health and well-being, and their work to jointly implement last year’s gun law.
The letters detail the Education Department’s investments in expanding student mental health resources, addressing gun violence and providing safe school environments as well as HHS’s efforts to train school personnel, first responders and law enforcement to recognize the mental health effects of gun violence.
Biden on Friday likened the emotional trauma experienced by students who witness school shootings to that of veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.
“All we want is our kids to have the freedom to learn to read or write instead of learning how to duck and cover in a classroom,” he said.
Earlier: Biden Says He Intends to ‘Expose Those’ Blocking New Gun Laws
Also attending Friday’s summit were Connecticut’s senators, Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal, who were joined by advocates from Giffords and Everytown for Gun Safety, an organization backed by Michael Bloomberg, founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP.
The White House has lauded Connecticut as a model for other states for the measures it implemented after the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. Last week, the state’s governor, Ned Lamont, signed a bill aimed at reinforcing existing gun-violence prevention laws and strengthening the state’s assault-weapons ban.
The Sandy Hook shooting prompted President Barack Obama to ask Biden, then his vice president, to find ways to address gun violence through executive action.
--With assistance from Jordan Fabian.