‘Every Damn Day In America There Is A Mass Shooting’: Biden Marks One-Year Anniversary of Gun Safety Bill Signing

President Joe Biden spoke out against gun violence on Friday during the National Safer Communities Summit to mark the one-year anniversary of signing the National Gun Safety Bill.

Following the deadly May 2022 shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which left 22 people dead, including 19 children attending Robb Elementary School, the US Congress passed one of the most significant gun safety bills in three decades.

Biden signed the National Gun Safety Bill on June 16th at the White House with gun violence victims and advocates in attendance.

On Thursday, the president was the keynote speaker at the National Safer Community Summit in West Hartford, Connecticut, where he expressed frustration about the current levels of gun violence in the country, while also honoring the signing of the bill into law.

“It takes extraordinary courage for them to stand up here and retell the story, because many of you out there, their parents, relatives and or victims yourself, it’s not just your story. It’s the first graders, the educators, Sandy Hook. It’s the kids and teachers that evolved. I sat with afterwards,” Biden told the audience which was filled with the country biggest gun safety advocates.

“Not just the shootings that make the headlines, but every single day, every damn day in America. And they’re in areas that are poor, mostly minority. There’s a mass shooting that it never reaches, the crescendo that it reaches in other places every single day, folks,” Biden added.

“I spent 30 sometimes visits and many more days in Afghanistan and Iraq. We have post-traumatic stress, they call it, for soldiers. What’s the difference between a post-traumatic stress that a soldier meets in the hills of Afghanistan and a fourth grade kid meets in a classroom when they have to duck and cover,” Biden said. “Brings it all back for your families, your parents, your siblings. And it brings it back. In the entire country, it ripples through the nation.”

In attendance of the summit was victims of gun violence, including former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords who recovered from a serious brain injury after she was shot during an assassinations attempt in January 2011.

Watch the clip above via CNN