Vice President Joe Biden spoke on Thursday at a conference on gun violence in Connecticut just 10 miles from Sandy Hook Elementary School, scene of the Dec. 14 mass shooting.
The symposium, held at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, is hosted by Connecticut Democratic lawmakers Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy and Rep. Elizabeth Esty. It includes panel discussions with local, state and national leaders; law enforcement; mental health experts; sportsmen; faith leaders; and families and survivors of gun violence.
Biden is slated to deliver a speech this afternoon. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan addressed the conference first, telling the audience that the issue of gun violence is personal to him because of his childhood growing up on the violent South Side of Chicago. "When you grow up and see your mentors and role models dying that has a huge impact on you," he said. "We think the current status quo is unacceptable."
Biden has been the White House's lead on gun violence after President Barack Obama chose him to head up a gun reform task force in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting.
Biden in 1994 was the architect of legislation that temporarily banned assault weapons. The president and Biden have been advocating reinstating that ban as well as a ban on high-capacity magazine clips, universal background checks and other measures they believe will reduce gun violence.
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