WASHINGTON: Manuel Oliver, a father of a teenager killed in the 2018 Parkland shooting, interrupted Joe Biden's speech celebrating a bipartisan gun safety law on Monday as he argued that the legislation has not gone far enough to curb gun violence.
Manuel Oliver, the father of mass shooting victim Joaquin Oliver, who got killed in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., was moved out of the event on the White House lawn while he suggested the legislation did not go far enough, The Hill reported.
The event was carried live on some cable television networks.
Criticizing the legislation, Oliver said "I've been trying to tell you this for years, for years," adding that "It's been a while that I've been calling out that using the celebration of the word, getting together, it's like we're going to a party, to a wedding today, you know, we all received invitations. And meanwhile, you can see these mothers in Uvalde that just saw how their kids were massacred inside a school," as he criticised the use of the word "celebration" for Monday's event.
Oliver appeared to suggest the legislation did not go far enough, but much of his comments were inaudible to the crowd.
Several advocates from various gun violence prevention groups and survivors and family members of victims of mass shootings from across the country were present during the event, reported The Hill.
Notably, the gun control legislation has been slammed for not going far as Democrats and advocates would have wanted, and Biden has been criticized for mainly waiting on the sidelines for a bipartisan group of Senators to finalize the bill.
The shooting at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Ill., which came weeks after Biden signed the bill into law, also left Democrats and allies frustrated.
Biden reiterated his calls for an assault weapons ban on Monday which expired in 2004, since the start of his administration, but a ban is hardly likely to pass the Senate, where Democrats need 10 Republicans to vote with them to overcome the 60-vote threshold to advance most legislation.
To curb the rising incidents of gun violence in the US, the US Senate passed a bipartisan bill to address gun violence in the United States, the first significant piece of federal gun reform in almost 30 years.
The final vote was 65 to 33 with 15 Republicans joining Democrats in support of the measure, marking a significant bipartisan breakthrough on one of the most contentious policy issues in the US.
The "Bipartisan Safer Communities Act" bill aims to take firearms away from dangerous people and provide millions of dollars for mental health, school safety, crisis intervention programs and incentives for states to include juvenile records in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
The US has been witnessing back-to-back acts of gun violence in the country, with at least 246 fatal shootings till June this year. The US is promoted to be the premier destination for higher education for Indians, but in rising instances, is unable to provide basic safety from senseless gun violence.
The May 24 massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, that killed 19 children and two teachers, was the bloodiest mass shooting in the United States this year, which occurred only 10 days after another shooting that killed 10 people at a supermarket in Buffalo.