Biden calls for assault weapons ban after Michigan State shooting

• Biden spoke about the tragedy at Michigan State, resulting in three deaths
• ‘We have to do something to stop gun violence ripping apart our communities’ 
• White House want better guidelines for children to access social media

President Joe Biden addressed the shooter who killed three students and injured five on the Michigan State University campus, and renewed his call for an assault weapons ban.   

‘Our hearts are with the students and families of Michigan State University,’ Biden said during remarks in Washington at a conference of the National Association of Counties. 

It was just the latest horrific outburst of gun violence in recent years, and Biden called to ‘do something’ to deal with the issue. 

‘We have to do something to stop gun violence ripping apart our communities,’ the president said. 

Biden spoke to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Monday night, and said federal law enforcement was on the ground assisting state and local authorities. 

‘It’s a family’s worst nightmare,’ said Biden. ‘It’s happening far too often in this country.’

Biden also marked the anniversary of the killings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, although White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to say whether he planned to make a formal speech dedicated to the topic.

‘Today marks five years to the day that 14 students and 3 educators lost their lives in Parkland, Florida,’ Biden said. ‘A lot of you here have to confront violence in your communities every single day, he told the county officials. 

He mentioned legislation he signed last year which he called ‘the most significant gun safety legislation in 30 years.’ 

Then he prefaced his comments by saying he would say something ‘controversial.’

‘There is no rationale for assault weapons and magazines that hold 50, 70 bullets,’ he said, to cheers and sustained applause from the crowd in the Washington Hilton hotel. 

On another topic, Biden said he had lunch Tuesday with Vice President Kamala Harris, although it wasn’t listed on either of their public schedules.

He said he keeps ‘little notecards about what I think we have to do,’ and took one out with a proposal.

‘And I said: We have to pass legislation on the damaging technology that’s having an effect on our kids. We’ve got to change the way that the Internet works and the way people use our children,’ he said. 

It was a likely reference legislation he touted during his State of the Union address, when he told lawmakers: ‘And it’s time to pass bipartisan legislation to stop Big Tech from collecting personal data on kids and teenagers online, ban targeted advertising to children, and impose stricter limits on the personal data that companies collect on all of us.’

Biden, who got his political start in county government, also talked about the looming fight over the debt limit with House Republicans.     

‘I believe we can be fiscally responsible without threatening to send our country into chaos,’ he said. 

‘They want to extend the Trump tax cuts on the previous four years, which cost $2.7 trillion to the deficit – extended,’ he said of House Republicans. ‘And guess who gets it? You all don’t,’ he said.

Biden touted his upcoming budget, to be released a bit late March 9. ‘We’ll cut the deficit by another 2 trillion in the next 10 years, and I’ll lay it out in detail,’ he said. 

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) issued her own statement on Parkland, calling on Republicans to join in both reinstating the Assault Weapons Ban and in ‘enacting universal background checks.’