‘Worst Speech Yet’: Biden Ripped For ‘Lashing Out’ at Everyone 'Not Sharing His Gun Control Agenda'
09:55 GMT 03.06.2022 (Updated: 10:07 GMT 03.06.2022)
© AFP 2023 / CHIP SOMODEVILLA
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President Joe Biden laid out his gun control agenda during an address to the nation on 2 June, urging lawmakers to take immediate action to pass new legislation that might curb the trend of mass shootings in the United States.
As the American commander-in-chief responded to the latest series of devastating mass shootings in the US, addressing gun violence in a speech on Thursday, it triggered a negative reaction from Republican lawmakers and conservative commentators.
Some critics interpreted the gun control agenda laid out by the 46th POTUS as a call to confiscate weapons. Others went as far as to call for Joe Biden to be impeached over his speech.
Speaking to the public in the wake of 19 children and two teachers being shot and killed at an elementary school in Texas on 24 May, Biden urged for gun restrictions that he said "the overwhelming majority of American people" were in favour of.
The POTUS called on congressional lawmakers to reinstate the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban, which expired under the George W. Bush administration in 2004, and ban high-capacity magazines.
He also urged lawmakers to raise the legal age to purchase a firearm to 21 in the event the ban cannot be agreed to. Additionally, the president called for strengthening background checks, enacting safe storage and red flag laws, repealing gun manufacturers' immunity from liability, and addressing the US mental health crisis.
3 June 2022, 01:30 GMT
However, Charlie Kirk, founder of the conservative group Turning Point USA, was quick to tweet that “lines were just drawn from The White House. Biden is coming for our guns”.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson suggested on Thursday that the president wanted to "disarm people who did not vote for Joe Biden".
"Biden literally told people he was going to take their ARs away”, Nicholas Fondacaro, deputy managing editor of the conservative watchdog group Media Research Center, tweeted.
Where's the lie?
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) June 3, 2022
Biden literally told people he was going to take their ARs away. https://t.co/LHFsb6ybK2
California Republican US Representative Darrell Issa tweeted to denounce the manner in which Biden “lashed out at everyone who doesn't share his gun control agenda” in what he described as the Democratic president’s “worst speech yet".
President Biden had the opportunity tonight to help unite the country.
— Rep. Darrell Issa (@repdarrellissa) June 2, 2022
He didn’t. He lashed out at everyone who doesn’t share his gun control agenda. Then he demanded voters elect more Democrats.
His worst speech yet.
Wendell Husebo, a reporter for conservative news outlet Breitbart, claimed that Biden's gun speech was not “unifying".
Joe Biden’s gun speech was not unifying… he attacked half the nation with campaign talk about midterm votes
— Wendell Husebø (@WendellHusebo) June 3, 2022
Georgia Republican US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene took to Twitter to slam the Democrats, who are “protected by armed guards daily". She emphasised that while Joe Biden sought to ban "assault weapons" and "high capacity magazines", Democrats “refused to prosecute violent crimes in Democrat cities all over the country”.
Joe Biden wants to ban “assault weapons” and “high capacity magazines” yet Democrats refuse to prosecute violent crimes in Democrat cities all over the country, and refuse to protect your children at school with armed security.
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) June 3, 2022
Same Democrats are protected by armed guards daily.
Conservative columnist Benny Johnson fumed that the POTUS appeared to have no respect for the US Constitution. “Impeach him", he tweeted.
Joe Biden does not respect the US Constitution.
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) June 2, 2022
Impeach him.
A similar sentiment was voiced by Fox News contributor Mollie Hemingway during a Jesse Watters Primetime segment. She argued that Biden’s speaking out against the "natural right of self-defence and to guard against tyranny in the Second Amendment" constituted an "impeachable offence".
Biden's gun control speech came in the wake of a mass shooting at a hospital campus in Tulsa, Oklahoma on 1 June, a school massacre in Texas on 24 May, and a mass shooting in Buffalo, New York on 14 May.
Earlier, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the chamber would vote on gun control legislation in the coming week, and that it would include measures such as raising the legal age to obtain a centrefire rifle or shotgun to 21 years, requiring all firearms to be traceable, mandating safe storage of firearms, and closing the so-called "bump stock loophole".
