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President Biden made his first appearance in the studio on a nightly talk show on Wednesday, discussing gun control and other issues with host Jimmy Kimmel in Los Angeles.
The episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” he opened with Kimmel asking why armed violence still affected the United States, noting that there had already been two dozen school shootings this year. Biden recalled his recent visit to Uvalde, Texas, where two weeks ago a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School, and where the president had been asked to “do something.”
“It’s a lot of intimidation by the NRA,” Biden said, referring to the National Rifle Association, on why there had been no movement in federal gun legislation. The House passed several gun control measures Wednesday night in response to recent shootings in Uvalde, Buffalo and elsewhere, but they are unlikely to pass the Senate because of Republican opposition.
“This is not your father’s Republican Party,” Biden added, saying he believed many Republican lawmakers feared that a “rational weapons policy” would lead to a loss to a right-wing rival in an election. Republican primaries.
At one point, Biden addressed the study’s audience and urged them to make gun control a voting issue.
“You have to make sure that this becomes a matter of voting. It has to be one of those issues where you decide your position on the issue of the senator or candidate for the House or the Senate, on what we will do with the “What you say about these things will determine how I vote for you,” Biden said. “It should be one of those problems.”
The House passed aggressive arms control measures in a vote of 223 to 204 on June 8. (Video: The Washington Post)
Biden also defended his record when Kimmel, a Democratic Party donor who contributed to Biden’s 2020 campaign, pressured him why the administration had failed. Biden said he had not issued any further executive orders, even on weapons, because he did not want to “emulate the abuse of the Constitution and Trump’s constitutional authority.”
Kimmel stepped back slightly, saying many Democrats were frustrated because “we went out and voted.”
“We’ve won the House, the Senate, the White House, obviously, and we’ve still made very little progress on weapons, obviously reproductive rights, voting rights, climate change, all that stuff.” dir Kimmel.
Biden argued that his administration had made limited progress on climate and said it was looking at executive orders it could issue if the Supreme Court overturns them. Roe against Wade. But he also suggested that any new restrictions on abortion could only be reversed at the polls.
Yes Roe Falls, “will cause a mini-revolution and many people will vote as out of office,” he said.
John Wagner contributed to this report.