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Vice
President Joe Biden
Twenty
years ago, President Clinton signed the Brady Bill into law.
That
law said that if you want to purchase a firearm from a federally
licensed dealer in this country, you have to get a background check
first. It was a historic piece of legislation -- one that's kept 1.5
million of the wrong people from getting their hands on a firearm in
the last 14 years.
But
in the wake of the tragedy in Newtown -- a year ago this month -- we
know we've got to keep working to build on that progress.
And
so even after a minority of Senators blocked commonsense legislation
to reduce gun violence this spring, we're pushing forward.
President
Obama laid out 23 executive actions to make sure the Administration
took essential and rapid steps to save lives while respecting our
Second Amendment rights. And since January, we've completed or made
significant progress on all of them.
President
Obama is keeping his word to make sure our families and communities
are safe.
Those
23 executive actions are keeping guns out of dangerous hands. They're
providing support for communities to hire school resource officers.
And they're reducing the stigma around mental illness.
Now,
it's not enough to take these steps on our own -- we still need
Congress to pass comprehensive legislation to reduce gun violence. We
need expanded background checks, and we need to create serious
penalties for gun trafficking. There is no question that these kinds
of measures would protect our kids and keep our communities safer.
No
parent should ever face the horror of the scene at Sandy Hook
Elementary School. Or a movie theater in Aurora. Or a temple in Oak
Creek. Or the campus at Virginia Tech.
We've
seen too much gun violence as a country. And if there's even one
thing we can do to save a life, it is our most sacred duty to try.
That's
where I stand. And you have my word that the President and I are
doing everything we can to make sure no parent loses their child to
gun violence.
Take
a look at the progress we've made:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/Reducing-Gun-Violence
Thank
you,
Joe
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