White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday that President Biden agrees with Manuel Oliver, whose teenage son, Joaquin, was killed in the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, that more needs to be done to curb gun violence in the U.S.
Jean-Pierre’s comments came after Oliver interrupted a speech Biden gave earlier on Monday celebrating the passage of the bipartisan Safer Communities Act.
Biden said in his address that the legislation “proves, despite the naysayers, we can make meaningful progress on dealing with gun violence,” prompting Oliver to call out, “I’ve been trying to tell you this for years. You have to do more than that.”
President Biden to protester: "Sit down. You'll hear what I have to say." pic.twitter.com/FZvMZoLam5
— CSPAN (@cspan) July 11, 2022
The president replied, “Make no mistake — sit down. You’ll hear what I have to say. Let me finish my thought.”
Biden then encouraged the crowd to let Oliver talk; security then escorted Oliver out.
Later on Monday, Jean-Pierre said: “The president agrees with him. He agrees we need to do more.”
“That’s why in his speech, he called on Congress to pass legislation that would ban assault weapons . . . high-capacity magazines, strengthen background checks, and enact safe-storage laws,” she added.
The press secretary went on to say that the president “knows and understands that he is frustrated and he is hurting, and rightfully so, his life was upended when gun violence took his son.”
“Our hearts go out to Manuel Oliver who has suffered a deep, deep loss,” she said. “The president met with him earlier today before the event. And as you know, the president understands what loss feels like.”
Ahead of Biden’s speech on Monday, Oliver tweeted criticism of the planned event: “The word CELEBRATION has no space in a society that saw 19 kids massacred just a month ago. ‘Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.’ Not me, not Joaquin.”