Fact-checking Biden's Pennsylvania speech on gun violence
Facts And Fact Checking,Joe Biden,Public Safety,Gun Control And Gun Rights
President Joe Biden on Tuesday pushed for stricter gun laws and more police funding as the answer to gun violence as Republicans paint the Democratic Party as soft on crime.
Speaking about his "Safer America Plan" in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Biden used the speech to call for a ban on assault-style weapons to address mass shootings and sought to portray Republicans as opposed to the law enforcement resources needed to stem the crime wave gripping many major cities.
Here are three checks on the claims Biden made during his remarks.
“For 10 years, mass shootings were down. Ten years in a row, since I passed that legislation in 1994 as a senator. But in 2004, Republicans let that ban expire. What happened? Mass shootings in America tripled.”
Biden is referring to the 1994 ban on assault-style weapons and large-capacity magazines that Congress allowed to expire 10 years after its passage. Biden supported the bill as a senator from Delaware.
