Cameron Kasky, a survivor of the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, criticized President Biden’s response to Tuesday’s shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
“I hear a lot of people talking about Joe Biden’s personal life and the horrible personal loss he’s endured that obviously makes him a compassionate leader. But what does Joe Biden’s personal life have to do with the fact that there is currently a product that is being marketed to Americans by Republican senators and congressmen — and by Mr. Joe Manchin, who is a Democrat —You’ve got these guns that are being sold to Americans and sown into the American narrative as if they stand for freedom,” Kasky said on CNN.
He added that he appreciates the empathy that Biden displays but said the address was a disappointment for Americans who advocate for gun safety.
“Joe Biden goes up there and talks about how it’s horrible to lose a family member … and says that it’s bad that mass violence happens. It’s great that he thinks it’s bad. But I can tell you that gun control organizers, people who believe in gun safety, common-sense gun safety laws, around the country were waiting to hear the words ‘executive order’ and instead we heard the words, essentially, thoughts and prayers,” Kasky added.
Kasky noted that mass shootings have become a common occurrence in the United States.
“There’s a new one every single day. And that’s on a good day, because on the bad days there’s quite a few,” he said. “These students are going to go back into school soon and they are going to live lives and have childhoods and early adulthoods that are completely informed by this tragedy. From what I’ve seen with Parkland and with all these other horrible shootings, it changes people forever,” he added.
Source: www.cnn.com