Administration of Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 2022

November 20, 2022

While no motive in this attack is yet clear, we know that the LGBTQI+ community has been subjected to horrific hate violence in recent years. Gun violence continues to have a devastating and particular impact on LGBTQI+ communities across our Nation and threats of violence are increasing. We saw it 6 years ago in Orlando, when our Nation suffered the deadliest attack affecting the LGBTQI+ community in American history. We continue to see it in the epidemic of violence and murder against transgender women, especially transgender women of color. And tragically, we saw it last night in this devastating attack by a gunman wielding a long rifle at an LGBTQI+ nightclub in Colorado Springs.

Places that are supposed to be safe spaces of acceptance and celebration should never be turned into places of terror and violence. Yet it happens far too often. We must drive out the inequities that contribute to violence against LGBTQI+ people. We cannot and must not tolerate hate.

Today yet another community in America has been torn apart by gun violence. More families left with an empty chair at the table and hole in their lives that cannot be filled. When will we decide we've had enough? We must address the public health epidemic of gun violence in all of its forms. Earlier this year, I signed the most significant gun safety law in nearly three decades, in addition to taking other historic actions. But we must do more. We need to enact an assault weapons ban to get weapons of war off America's streets.

Today Jill and I are praying for the families of the five people killed in Colorado Springs last night and for those injured in this senseless attack.

NOTE: The statement referred to Anderson Lee Aldrich, suspected gunman in the shooting at the Club Q nightclub in Colorado Springs, CO, on November 19; and Daniel Aston, Kelly Loving, Ashley Paugh, Derrick Rump, and Raymond Green Vance, who were killed in the shooting.

Categories: Statements by the President : Colorado Springs, CO, shooting.

Names: Aldrich, Anderson Lee; Aston, Daniel; Biden, Jill T.; Loving, Kelly; Paugh, Ashley; Rump, Derrick; Vance, Raymond Green.

Subjects: Colorado, shooting in Colorado Springs; Gun violence, prevention efforts; Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons, equality.

DCPD Number: DCPD202201062.

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