REPORTER: “ — was using some profanity to sort of vent some people’s frustration with yet another mass shooting and a lack of action. What do you say to Americans who are just frustrated and don’t believe this political process will actually be able to do anything?”
BIDEN: “Well, he has to do something. Look, it is about time the President gets out of the state of denial in two really critical things, and they both came to a head this weekend. One is climate exchange, it is an existential threat. This guy can no longer deny the science. I mean, if we had a parliamentary system we’d call for elections tomorrow. Not because we’re in good or bad shape, but because we can’t wait another 18 months for something to happen in terms of climate. What does he need? Does he need Gabriel to come down and say, ‘Hey, this is a real problem?’ I mean it’s gigantic, what’s happening. The largest storm in the Atlantic — anyway. And the second one is on dealing with firearms. It is irrational, with all due respect to the governor of Texas, it’s irrational what they are doing. On the very day you see a mass shooting — I was on the plane the last two and a half hours, I guess they got up to five killed? And we are talking about loosening access to have guns, be able to take them into places of worship, store them ins schools? I mean, it is absolutely irrational. It’s totally irrational. And it is all about special interests and it has to stop. It has to stop. The idea that we don’t have elimination of assault type weapons, magazines that can hold multiple bullets in them — it is absolutely mindless. It is no violation of the Second Amendment. It is just a bow to the special interest of the gun manufacturers and the NRA. It’s got to stop.”