English subtitles for clip: File:President-Biden-Delivers-Remarks-on-the-Horrific-Elementary-School-Shooting-in-Uvalde -Texas.webm

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>> The President: Good evening,
fellow Americans.

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I had hoped, when I became
President,

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I would not have
to do this again.

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Another massacre.

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Uvalde, Texas.
An elementary school.

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Beautiful, innocent second,
third, fourth graders.

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And how many scores
of little children

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who witnessed what happened
see their friends die

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as if they're on a battlefield,
for God's sake.

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They'll live with it
the rest of their lives.

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There's a lot we don't know yet,
but there's a lot we do know.

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There are parents who will never
see their child again,

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never have them jump in bed
and cuddle with them.

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Parents who will
never be the same.

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To lose a child is like having a
piece of your soul ripped away.

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There's a hollowness
in your chest,

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and you feel like
you're being sucked into it

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and never going to be
able to get out.

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It's suffocating.
And it's never quite the same.

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And it's a feeling shared
by the siblings,

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and the grandparents,
and their family members,

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and the community
that's left behind.

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Scripture says -- Jill and I
have talked about this

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in different contexts,
in other contexts:

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"The Lord is near
to the brokenhearted

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and saves the crushed
in spirit."

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So many crushed spirits.

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So, tonight, I ask the nation
to pray for them,

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to give the parents
and siblings the strength

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in the darkness
they feel right now.

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As a nation, we have to ask:

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When in God's name are we going
to stand up to the gun lobby?

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When in God's name will we do

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what we all know
in our gut needs to be done?

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It's been 340- -- 3,448 days --

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10 years since I stood up
at a high school

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in Connecticut --
a grade school in Connecticut,

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where another gunman
massacred 26 people,

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including 20 first graders,
at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

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Since then, there have been over
900 incidents of gunfires

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reported on school grounds.

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Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High
School in Parkland, Florida.

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Santa Fe High School in Texas.

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Oxford High School in Michigan.
The list goes on and on.

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And the list grows when
it includes mass shootings

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at places like movie theaters,
houses of worship,

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and, as we saw
just 10 days ago,

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at a grocery store
in Buffalo, New York.

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I am sick and tired of it.
We have to act.

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And don't tell me we can't have
an impact on this carnage.

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I spent my career as a senator

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and as Vice President working
to pass commonsense gun laws.

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We can't and won't prevent
every tragedy.

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But we know they work
and have a positive impact.

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When we passed
the assault weapons ban,

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mass shootings went down.

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When the law expired,
mass shootings tripled.

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The idea that an 18-year-old kid
can walk into a gun store

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and buy two assault weapons
is just wrong.

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What in God's name do you need
an assault weapon

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for except to kill someone?

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Deer aren't running through
the forest with Kevlar vests on,

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for God's sake.
It's just sick.

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And the gun manufacturers
have spent

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two decades aggressively
marketing assault weapons

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which make them the most
and largest profit.

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For God's sake, we have to have
the courage

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to stand up to the industry.

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Here's what else I know:
Most Americans support

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commonsense laws --
commonsense gun laws.

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I just got off my trip
from Asia,

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meeting with Asian leaders,

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and I learned of this
while I was on the aircraft.

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And what struck me
on that 17-hour flight --

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what struck me was these kinds
of mass shootings

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rarely happen anywhere else
in the world.

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Why? They have mental
health problems.

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They have domestic disputes
in other countries.

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They have people who are lost.

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But these kinds
of mass shootings

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never happen
with the kind of frequency

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that they happen in America.
Why?

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Why are we willing to live
with this carnage?

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Why do we keep
letting this happen?

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Where in God's name is our
backbone to have the courage

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to deal with it
and stand up to the lobbies?

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It's time to turn this pain
into action.

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For every parent, for every
citizen in this country,

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we have to make it clear
to every elected official

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in this country:
It's time to act.

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It's time -- for those
who obstruct or delay

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or block
the commonsense gun laws,

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we need to let you know
that we will not forget.

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We can do so much more.
We have to do more.

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Our prayer tonight
is for those parents,

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lying in bed
and trying to figure out,

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"Will I be able to sleep again?

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What do I say
to my other children?

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What happens tomorrow?"

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May God bless the loss of
innocent life on this sad day.

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And may the Lord
be near the brokenhearted

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and save those crushed
in spirit,

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because they're going
to need a lot of help

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and a lot of our prayers.

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God love you.