The president hugged Jackie Hegarty, a Sandy Hook subsister and present a rising elder astatine Newton High School, aft she introduced him.
“I heard and saw things nary child, nary idiosyncratic should ever person to see,” Hegarty said. She added, “Thankfully, we person a president who does much than nonstop thoughts and prayers.”
For 10 years, parents, siblings, spouses and survivors of Sandy Hook person poured into St. Mark’s Episcopal Church connected Capitol Hill, immoderate clinging to photos of the 6- and 7-year-old children they lost. The radical has been joined implicit the years by different grieving Americans, including those who mislaid loved ones astatine a precocious schoolhouse successful Parkland, Fla., astir 5 years agone and, earlier this year, astatine an simple schoolhouse successful Uvalde, Texas, wherever immoderate families look their archetypal vacation play without their child.
The nationalist vigil, organized by the Newtown Action Alliance Fund and partners, has go a yearly gathering spot for weapon survivors and advocates crossed the country. Lawmakers and their unit were besides invited to attend.
Attendees held achromatic candles, arsenic photos of weapon unit victims and their names played connected a projector. Democratic Sens. Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal and Rep. Jahana Hayes of Connecticut; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; and Rep.-elect Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) besides attended the vigil.
Biden’s temper was somber arsenic helium leaned into his ain experiences with grief, recounting the nonaccomplishment of his woman and babe girl successful a car mishap 50 years agone this month. He led the country successful a infinitesimal of soundlessness earlier leaving the stage.
“Everyone’s different, but I cognize that feeling,” Biden said, of grieving. “You know. It’s similar a achromatic spread successful the mediate of your thorax you’re being dragged into.”
Advocates told POLITICO they viewed the vigil arsenic an accidental for the president to shed airy connected an contented that continues to plague American society, and 1 that has near a people connected Biden’s decades agelong governmental vocation — arsenic good arsenic his young presidency. In conscionable 2 years successful the White House, responding to mass shootings has go regular for Biden officials.
The president has visited 2 communities struck by wide shootings, and the White House has issued astatine slightest 16 statements to people the killings. During different scheduled remarks, Biden has had to give clip to addressing weapon unit tragedies.
Biden has a lengthy grounds successful trying to forestall weapon violence. As vice president helium was the Obama administration’s constituent idiosyncratic connected weapon argumentation aft the Sandy Hook shooting, which near 20 first-graders and six educators dead. But nary of the bills to grow inheritance checks, prohibition definite battle rifles and bounds the size of magazines cleared the 60 votes needed to bushed backmost a Senate filibuster astatine the time.
“We’ve seen him erstwhile the cameras are off. That’s wherefore we’re truthful excited to person him present today,” said Murphy, an state of the president, recounting some Biden’s absorption to the Sandy Hook shooting and the president’s propulsion for weapon authorities earlier this year.
The authorities surrounding weapon authorities person shifted since the Sandy Hook shooting, arsenic evidenced by Biden’s weapon argumentation accomplishments arsenic president. Following wide shootings successful Buffalo, N.Y., and Uvalde this year, Biden signed the archetypal weapon information measure successful astir 30 years and saw done the bipartisan confirmation of the archetypal manager of the bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms since 2013.
Biden has continued to trumpet the request for much changes, including an battle weapons ban, successful the aftermath of continued wide shootings. In November alone, a Walmart worker opened fire, sidesplitting six radical successful a interruption room; 5 radical were killed and 18 were injured successful an LGBTQ nightclub successful Colorado Springs; and successful Charlottesville, Va., a erstwhile shot subordinate opened occurrence successful a store aft a tract trip, sidesplitting 3 students.
Events remembering loved ones tin beryllium hard for survivors, Biden said connected Wednesday.
“No substance however galore years spell by, it brings it back,” Biden said. “But your voices matter.”
English (US)