President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign released a pair of new ads this week — one of which focuses on gun policy while honoring the victims of the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on May 24, 2022. The other features narration by celebrated actor Robert De Niro.
As described by CBS News, the Uvalde ad features audio of a choir singing Ave Maria while images of Biden mourning with victims’ families are shown. Text then appears that reads, “Joe Biden expanded background checks and is fighting to ban assault weapons.” Then a video of former President Donald Trump’s mouth moving during a speech is shown, with a caption reading: “Donald Trump did nothing to keep us safe.”
“I’ll never forget. I’ll never stop fighting,” another caption reads.
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The Uvalde ad was released on the same day an 18-year-old gunman opened fire on two classrooms at Robb Elementary School while young students were in their last week of the academic year. 19 students and two teachers — Irma Garcia and Eva Mireles — were killed. The children murdered during the shooting were between the ages of nine and 11 years old. That shooting took place just weeks after a white supremacist carried out a deadly shooting at a supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York that killed 10 people.
In the weeks following the Buffalo and Uvalde shootings, Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Thom Tillis, (R-North Carolina), Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Arizona) led negotiations on a bipartisan bill — the Safer Communities Act — that included several modest gun reform policies. Among the more notable provisions was the closure of the so-called “boyfriend loophole.” Previously, only men married to, have a child with or live with a domestic abuse victim were prevented from buying a firearm if convicted of domestic abuse. The law widened that group to include men convicted of abusing their girlfriends, even if they were unmarried, childless and living in separate homes.
In 2023, Biden signed an executive order expanding implementation of the Safer Communities Act, which expanded background checks by widening the category of firearm vendors that are required to become licensed dealers and conduct background checks on potential gun buyers.
“By setting clear standards for when someone is dealing firearms, the rule provides the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) with proactive tools to enforce the law and keep our communities safe,” the White House stated.
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During a recent speech at a National Rifle Association event in Dallas, Texas, Trump told the audience that he would repeal the Safer Communities Act.
“In my second term, we will roll back every Biden attack on the Second Amendment,” Trump said. “At noon on Inauguration Day, we will sack the anti-gun fanatic Steve Dettelbach, have you ever heard of him? He’s a disaster. And replace him with an ATF director who respects the sacred rights to keep and bear arms.”
Watch Biden’s ad below, or by clicking this link.
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