Biden gun control speech interrupted by father of Parkland shooting victim

The father of a child who died in a mass shooting at a Parkland, Florida, school interrupted President Biden’s Monday event celebrating the passage of a bipartisan gun bill.

Manuel Oliver, who ahead of the event tweeted criticism of it, was escorted out after shouting as Biden was speaking. Oliver’s Twitter bio says he is the father of Joaquin Oliver, who was one of the victims of the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018.

It’s not clear exactly what Oliver said during the event, which was held in the South Lawn of the White House. 

“The word CELEBRATION has no space in a society that saw 19 kids massacred just a month ago,” Oliver tweeted before the commemoration. “‘Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.’ Not me, not Joaquin.”

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Biden paused during his remarks when Oliver’s interruption began and attempted to get him to relent before the man was removed.

“Sit down you’ll hear what I have to say,” Biden said.

“We have one. Let me finish my comment. Let me talk,” Biden added, before the event continued after a brief, but rare, interruption on White House grounds.

Hecklers or protestors during a presidential speech are rare due to strict security measures at the White House. A protestor in 2006 interrupted an event with former President George W. Bush and then-Chinese President Hu Jintao, earning her criminal charges.

Dozens of members of Congress attended the event Monday, including Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who led negotiations on behalf of Republicans. Cornyn managed to get 14 total Senate Republicans to vote for the bill, clearing the chamber’s filibuster threshold. 

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Also Monday, Biden and others on stage said the bipartisan bill, called the Safer Communities Act, should be just the first step toward a full ban of assault weapons. 

“Now is the time to galvanize this movement because that’s our duty to the people of this nation,” Biden said. “We’re living in a country awash in weapons of war.”

Biden discussed the damage that assault weapons can do to people and the requirements for military members before they are given weapons. He said that it doesn’t make sense civilians are allowed to have the same weapons. 

“Makes no sense. Assault weapons need to be banned. They were banned,” Biden said. “I’m determined to ban these weapons again.”

Fox News’ Sarah Tobanksi contributed to this report.