Remarks by President Biden at a Gun Violence Prevention Task Force Meeting
FEBRUARY 03, 2022
Location: New York, New York

1:32 P.M. EST

     THE PRESIDENT:  Okay.  Well, General Garland; Governor; Mr. Mayor; Representative Jeffers [sic] — Jeffries, excuse me; Representative Velázquez — they rode up on the flight with me — and other members of Congress that are here: Thank you. 

     And I just want to thank Mayor Adams and Commissioner Sewell and the law — all the law enforcements here today for — not having me, for what you do every single day.

It’s — and let me start by saying Detective Wilbert Mora and Jason Rivera are the “who” and “what” law enforcement ought to be.  And the — Senator Gillibrand and I have talked about that on the way up as well.

     I’ve spoken to their families, and — and their loss for the city is also a loss for the nation.  You know, the future is cut short by a man with a stolen Glock with 40 rounds — a magazine with 40 rounds.  And it’s really a weapon of war. 

One of the things I was proudest of years ago, when I was in the Senate — I was able to get these weapons and the size of magazines outlawed.  That got changed.  It got overruled.  But I don’t see any rationale to why there should be such a weapon able to be purchased.  It doesn’t violate anybody’s Second Amendment rights to deny that. 

But anyway, their futures were cut short by a man with a stolen Glock and that 40-round magazine. 

And I tell you, I want to thank the man back to my left — I think he’s sitting right there — for taking on.  Stand up. (Applause.)

Now, if you’ll excuse a — as we used to say in the Senate, “a point of personal privilege,” I — when everything — when the economy died in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and I moved down to Delaware with my dad and my mom and the family, I moved to a little town called Claymont, Delaware.  And it was a steel town just across the border from Pennsylvania, right up in that arc. 

And I went to — I spent 12 years going to school there.  Or actually, not 12; I started in third grade.  At any rate, I went to a school — a little Catholic school called Holy Rosary, across from a small police department and a fire hall.  And everybody that I grew up with either became a cop, a firefighter, or a priest.  I wasn’t qualified for any of them, so here I am.  (Laughter.) 

But I admire the hell out of all of you.  I really do.  It’s not — I’m not being solicitous.  I mean it sincerely.

And to the many parents, spouses, brothers, sisters who have to bury a piece of their soul in the deep earth, it’s really tough stuff.  It’s hard as hell — you all know it — to lose a colleague, to lose a son, a daughter, a husband, wife.

And I want to thank — if — there are not many here, but I want to thank all the spouses of every one of you or your significant other, because every time you pin that shield on and walk out the door, they’re worried whether they’re going to get that phone call — get that phone call.  And too many have gotten the phone call lately. 

And every day in this country, 316 people are shot, 106 are killed.  And six NYPD officers have been victims of gun violence so far, just this year — the same in the town north of me, Philadelphia; and my much smaller town of Wilmington, Delaware; and Washington, D.C. 

Sixty-four children injured by gun violence so far this year, twenty-six killed.  It’s enough.  Enough is enough. 

Because we know we can do things about this but for the resistance we’re getting from some sectors of the government and the Congress and the state legislatures and the organizational structures out there.

You know, Mayor Adams, you and I agree: The answer is not to abandon our streets.  That’s not the answer.  The answer is to come together, the police and communities, building trust and making us all safer. 

The answer is not to defund the police, it’s to give you the tools, the training, the funding to be partners, to be protectors.  And the community needs you — and know the community.  You know — (applause) — police — policing that treats everyone with respect and dignity. 

That’s why I called on the Congress to pass a budget later this year that provides cities, like New York and others, with an additional $300 million for community policing, you know, where the police interact with the community, get to know the community, build trust in the community. 

And I’ve noticed, in my experience — when I wrote the first crime bill, I noticed that, you know, I don’t hear many communities — no matter what their color or their background — saying, “I don’t want more protection in my community.”  I don’t know, I haven’t found one of those yet. 

And so, I’ve asked the Congress to provide $200 million to invest in community violence intervention programs as well — they work; they work — where community members with credibility work directly with people that are most likely to commit crimes or be victims of gun crimes.  And they work. 

For example, in 2017, the program I’m going to see this afternoon, which sends people to the community — in the community to interrupt violence, to mediate conflicts, to de-escalate — succeed in preventing single — a single shooting from occurring in this largest public housing development last year.  No shooting for a full year because they engaged directly with the community. 

You know, I know this is a priority for Senator Schumer, what you all are doing here.  If I hear one more call from him that we need more money for housing and more money for cops — I don’t know, I’m going to send him back to you all.  (Laughter.)