- President Joe Biden traveled to rural Wisconsin Thursday
- He used the top of his speech in Westby to address the Georgia school shooting
President Joe Biden slammed parents for letting kids get ahold of guns as he addressed Wednesday’s school shooting in Georgia at an event Thursday in rural Wisconsin.
The president traveled to Westby in the pivotal swing state to tout some of the legislation he and Vice President Kamala Harris helped get passed, which would enhance green energy in rural areas.
But he asked the audience if he could address the shooting firsthand – after a 14-year-old gunned down four in the opening weeks of the school year.
‘How could you have an assault rifle, weapon in the house not locked up, and know that your kid knows where it is?’ Biden asked. ‘Got to hold parents accountable if they let their child have access to these guns.’
During his brief remarks, the 81-year-old also confused North and South Korea, as he bragged about chip manufacturing coming back to the U.S.
‘I’ve traveled from everywhere from North Korea – anyway,’ Biden said, before quickly correcting himself. ‘South Korea – to across the world.’
President Joe Biden slammed parents for letting kids get ahold of guns as he addressed Wednesday’s school shooting in Georgia at an event Thursday in rural Wisconsin. He is surrounded on both sides by bullet-proof glass following the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump
President Joe Biden (left) greets Westby’s Mayor Danny Helgerson (center), Wisconsin Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski and Gov. Tony Evers (right) as he arrives in rural Wisconsin on Thursday
Biden opened his remarks playing to the rural audience.
‘I’m a gun owner,’ he said. ‘I believe strongly in the Amendment.’
Later he noted, ‘My dad is a hunter.’
And he added his trademark line: ‘I don’t know a whole hell of a lot of deer wearing Kevlar vests.’
But he also pressed that more gun control legislation was needed after the alleged shooter, 14-year-old Colt Gray, absolutely ‘shattered,’ in the president’s words, the first few days of school of those attending Apalachee High School shooting.
Two students and two teachers are now dead. Another nine people, including eight students and one teacher, were injured.
Gray used an AR-style weapon in the murderous rampage.
President Joe Biden (right) talked to workers at Vernon Electric Cooperative in Westby, Wisconsin Thursday ahead of delivering remarks about powering rural areas in the important swing state
President Joe Biden (left) took a tour of Vernon Electric Cooperative in Westby, Wisconsin in Thursday, touting investments in green energy to power rural areas of the U.S. He was accompanied on the trip by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack (right)
‘We need more than thoughts and prayers,’ Biden said Thursday afternoon. ‘Let’s ban assault weapons.’
‘High capacity magazines, once again, what do we need them for? In terms of domestic use,’ the president continued. ‘There are too many people who are able to access guns who shouldn’t be able to. So let’s require safe storage of firearms.’
‘I know mine’s locked up,’ Biden added.
The president pointed a finger at parents as more details trickled out about how the teenager was able to obtain the firearm.
CNN reported late Thursday that Gray’s father told law enforcement that he had purchased the gun in December 2023 as a holiday present for his son, two law enforcement sources told the network.