Biden's gun speech interrupted by father of Parkland victim urging him to 'do more'
President Biden was interrupted during a speech on Monday afternoon, when the father of a victim of the 2018 Parkland, Fla. mass shooting stood up and urged the president to "do more" to combat gun violence.
The president's planned address was in commemoration of the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, "the first major gun legislation in more than a decade," Politico reports. Among other provisions, the law closes the so-called "boyfriend loophole" and enhances background checks.
As Biden spoke on the White House's South Lawn, Manuel Oliver, father to Parkland victim Joaquin Oliver, shouted, "You have to do more!" He also called on Biden to open some sort of gun control prevention office in the White House, to which Biden replied, "We have one."
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Initially, when Oliver first began shouting, Biden told him to "sit down. You'll hear what I have to say." But as the moment continued, and what appeared to be a security official approached Oliver, Biden urged the official to "let him talk. Let him talk."
Oliver was ultimately escorted out of the event.
"This legislation is real progress but more has to be done," Biden then went on. "The provision of this new legislation is going to save lives and it's proof that today's politics we can come together on a bipartisan basis and get important things done. Even on an issue as tough as guns."
Watch the moment below:
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Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
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