Biden declares gun violence a 'national health crisis' and calls for 'common sense reforms'
by Michael Lee
| December 16, 2020 10:17 AM - Originally posted on Washington Examiner
President-elect Joe Biden released a statement remembering the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting while saying that “gun violence is a national health crisis” in need of being addressed.
“But in this collective pain, you’ve helped usher in a collective and growing purpose,” Biden said on Monday. “You’ve helped us forge a consensus that gun violence is a national health crisis, and we need to address its total cost to fully heal families, communities, and our nation.”
The comments came on the eighth anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting, which claimed the lives of 26 students and staff members and was one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history.
Biden said the shooting was the “saddest day” of his Obama administration years but that he “remains in awe” of the surviving victims and how many of them have “turned their pain into purpose” in attempts to change America’s gun laws.
“I know it can feel like an impossible task,” Biden said, adding that since Sandy Hook, there have been more such tragedies across the country.
“Every year, more than 30,000 people die from gun violence across America — a statistic we would associate with war in a far-off place,” Biden continued, echoing a statistic cited by former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton that includes suicides in its tally.
Biden went on to lament that “eight years later, there have been plenty of thoughts and prayer, but that is not enough.” Instead, Biden said the public should “fight to end this scourge on our society and enact common sense reforms.”
Biden concluded by saying that such reforms “are supported by a majority of Americans” and claimed they could “save countless lives.”