Administration of Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 2023

May 24, 2023

The President. Before I beginâwell, I'm beginning, butâI realize this is a really tough day for all the families. Remembering is important, but it's also painful.

One year ago today, Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, turned into another killing field in America.

A few days later, Jill and I traveled there and stood before those 21 crosses that were outside the school. On each cross, a nameâlike in these candles behind usâof 19 childrenâ9, 10, 11 years oldâand 2 devoted educators, and 17 more injured. We spent hours with the grieving families who were broken and never, ever will quite be the same.

To the families of the children and the educators whoâwe know that, 1 year later, it's still so raw for you. A year of missed birthdays and holidays, school plays, soccer games, just that smile. A year of everyday joys gone forever: the bend of his smile, the perfect pitch of her laugh.

At a vigil a few months later, one of the moms said: "When I lay in bed and turn on my side, envisioning her staring back at me, I want so badly to be part of an alternative reality that just doesn't exist. This is my reality, because my 10-year-old daughter was murdered in her fourth- grade classroom."

Standing there in Uvalde, Jill and I couldn't help but think that too many schools, too many everyday places have become killing fields in communities all acrossâevery part of America. And in each place, we hear the same message: Do something. For God's sake, please do something.

We did something afterwards, but not nearly enough. We still need to ban, in my view, ARâ 15 firearms and assault weapons once again. You know, they've been used time and again in mass killings of innocent children and peoples.

We need to ban high-capacity magazines, the ability to shoot 20, 30, 40, 60 bullets without reloading. Because today, guns remain the number-one killerâthe number-one killerâof children in America. Guns. And over the last year since Uvalde, our country has experienced a staggering 650 mass shootings and well overâit's hard to sayâwell over fourâ40,000 deaths due to gun violence.

We can't end this epidemic until Congress passes some commonsense gun safety laws that keep weapons of war off our streets and out of the hands of dangerous people, until States do the same thing.

How many more parents will live their worst nightmare before we stand up to the gun lobby to establish universal background checks, establish a national "red flag" laws, require safe storage of storage of firearms, and end immunity from liability for gun manufacturers? The only major corporate entities that doesn't haveâthat's immune to liability.

Even a majority of responsible gun owners support these commonsense actions to save lives and keep our communities safe. So it's time to act. It's time to act. It's time to make our voices heard, not as Democrats or as Republicans, but as friends, as neighbors, as parents, as fellow Americans. And I'm being deadly earnest when I say that.

You know, I know, for a long time it's been hard to make progress. But there will come a point where our voices are so loud, our determination so clear that we can no longer be stopped. We will act.

You know, a year ago, after visiting the school, that same day, we attended mass at Sacred Heart Catholic Church. In the pews, families and friends held each other tightly. As the Archbishop spoke, he asked the children in attendance to come up on the altar and sit with him as he spoke on the altar.

And there wasn't enough room for everybody to go up on the altar, so a mom and her young son sat next to us. They had us in the first pew, and they sat next to us. As we left the church, a grandmother, who had just lost her granddaughter, came up to us and quietly passed us a note, a handwritten letter.

And here's what it read: "Erase the invisible line that is dividing our Nation. Come up with a solution and fix what's broken and make the changes that are necessary to prevent this from happening again."

My fellow Americans, you knowâyou'veâyou can byâyou can almost feel the pain, for we've lostâwe've lost children. We have to do this to save our children. For the Nation we love, to erase that invisible line.

Jill and I stand here today as, earlier this morning, we were talking about planning a memorial service this weekend celebrating the anniversary of the death of our son Beau.

Well, guess what? While everyone's pain is different. We, like many of you, have some understanding what it's like to lose a child on more than one occasion.

For those who have lost a loved one in Uvaldeâto the moms, the dads, the brothers, the sisters, and grandmoms, the grandpops, this is what I know: One, they'll never be gone from your heart. They'll always be part of you.

And I know this as well, as unbelievable as it sounds, I promise you, a day will come when you pass that ice cream store or you pass that park, you pass that thing that brings back the memory of your son or daughter. It's going to bring a smile to your lips when you think of them before it brings a tear to your eye.

That's when you know you're going to make it.

And our prayer for you, from the bottom of our heart, is that day come sooner than laterâ sooner than later. But, God willing, it will come. As I said, that's when you know you're going to make it.

God bless those 21 blessed souls lost on this day in Uvalde, and may God bless their families. We're thinking of you.

Q. Any update on the debt talks, Mr. President, please?

NOTE: The President spoke at 3:31 p.m. at the Grand Staircase at the White House. In his remarks, he referred to Kimberly Mata-Rubio, whose daughter Lexi was killed in the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX, on May 24, 2022; and Archbishop Gustavo GarcÃa-Siller of San Antonio, TX.

Categories: Addresses and Remarks : Uvalde, TX, shooting, first anniversary. Locations: Washington, DC.

Names: Biden, Jill T.; GarcÃa-Siller, Gustavo; Mata-Rubio, Kimberly.

Subjects: Criminal background check procedures, strengthening efforts; Gun control efforts; Gun violence, prevention efforts; Texas, 2022 shooting in Uvalde.

DCPD Number: DCPD202300462.