‘I am sick and tired of it’: Biden’s call for action draws upon similar message following Sandy Hook shooting

Joe Biden stood on stage in Connecticut two months after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School that left 20 students and six educators dead.

“We have to speak for those 20 beautiful children who died … We have to speak for those (six) adults,” Biden, then-vice president, said while addressing a crowd at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, Feb. 22, 2013. The event was a conference on gun violence and served as a call to action that legislative and systemic changes were needed in order to prevent future mass shootings from happening.

“We intend to speak for them. Enough is enough,” Biden said. “We have an obligation to act and we are taking that obligation seriously.”

Following Tuesday’s massacre of at least 19 children at a Texas elementary school by an 18-year-old gunman, Biden drew from his experiences immediately following the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, making it clear that not enough had been done.

“When in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When in God’s name do we do what we all know needs to be done?” the president asked Tuesday night while addressing the nation from the White House. “It’s been 3,448 days, 10 years since I stood up at… a grade school in Connecticut where another gunman massacred 26 people including 20 first graders at Sandy Hook Elementary School.”

“Since then, there have been over 900 incidents of gunfire reported on school grounds…I am sick and tired of it. We have to act. And don’t tell me we can’t have an impact on this carnage,” Biden continued.

The question of whether enough — or anything — will be done carried through the rest of the day Tuesday and into Wednesday following the latest mass shooting. It was a question asked on cables news outlets, by high profile athletes and celebrities, local activists and residents of Newtown, in addition to U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy while speaking on the Senate floor.

“I’m here on this floor to beg — to literally get down on my hands and knees — to beg my colleagues. Find a path forward here. Work with us to find a way to pass laws that make this less likely,” he said.

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The plan following Sandy Hook included the requirement of universal background checks for gun buyers, in addition to the elimination of high-capacity magazines. Biden and then-President Barack Obama spoke of banning military-style weapons, among other action.

Nearly 10 years later, those changes are yet to take place on the federal level, with the biggest push from Democrats being for background checks. Measures were passed in 2019 by the House, in addition to last year, but have not yet cleared the Senate, which has a 50-50 split between Democrats and Republicans. It would take at least 60 votes to approve the measure, however, and avoid a filibuster.

“I understand my Republican colleagues will not agree to everything that I may support, but there is a common denominator that we can find,” Murphy said. “But by doing something, we at least stop sending this quiet message of endorsement to these killers whose brains are breaking, who see the highest levels of government doing nothing, shooting after shooting.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal shared a similar sentiment from the Senate floor.

“It is no longer surprising or stunning. It is no longer unfathomable or unforeseeable. It is incomprehensible that this great nation is blocked by members of this body from taking action that can forestall and prevent it,” Blumenthal said. “This body has been complicit by its inaction. In fact, it isn’t this body. It is members of this body, principally on the other side of the aisle. Let’s be blunt.”

Connecticut passed its own restrictions on weapons in 2013, placing restrictions on ammunition magazines, adding over 100 firearms to the state’s military-style weapons ban and creating a dangerous weapon offender registry.

Monsignor Robert Weiss, of St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Newtown, was among those questioning Tuesday whether any federal action will take place if it hasn’t already.

“If we haven’t been able to control gun violence after how many school shootings, when is it ever going to happen?” Weiss said. “How do you control it, how do you stop these things from happening?”

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Reporter John Moritz contributed to this report.