华盛顿——在周二发布的一段视频中，乔·拜登总统直接向9年前桑迪胡克小学遇难者家属发表讲话，称美国欠大规模枪击事件受害者家属的“比我们的祈祷更多”。我们应该采取行动。”
拜登在视频中说:“不管过了多久，这些家庭中的每一个人都会重温他们那天得到的消息。“20名珍贵的一年级学生，6名英勇的教育工作者，一名孤独的枪手和一次丧心病狂的暴力行为。那天早上对你来说一切都变了。举国震惊。”
2012年12月14日，一名持枪歹徒在康涅狄格州纽顿市的桑迪胡克小学杀害了20名一年级学生和6名教育工作者。20岁的枪手亚当·兰扎在大屠杀前在纽敦的家中杀死了他的母亲，然后在警察到达学校时自杀。
康涅狄格州州长内德·拉蒙特(Ned Lamont)周二呼吁全州降半旗，以纪念学校内26名遇难者。
民主党人拉蒙特说:“我们永远不会忘记20名无辜的孩子和6名忠诚的教育工作者，他们在那个可怕的早晨被夺走了生命。
拜登说，这是他和前总统奥巴马执政期间“最难过的日子”之一。拜登说，他从这些家庭的力量中找到了希望，并认为他们可以通过有意义的改革，但结果令人沮丧地很短暂。
“对你我和许多其他人来说，这仍然令人沮丧，”他说，并引用了佛罗里达州帕克兰和最近密歇根州牛津市的其他大规模校园枪击事件。“在全国无数的社区里，都有这些可怕的枪击事件，成为全国头条新闻，让我们整个国家感到尴尬。”
他说，这样的枪击事件时有发生，尤其是在有色人种社区，新闻中没有提及。
他说:“作为一个国家，我们欠所有这些家庭的不仅仅是我们的祈祷，我们欠他们的是行动。
拜登指出了他采取的行政行动，以阻止所谓的幽灵枪的传播，并促进安全的枪支储存。他还希望社区利用大规模支出计划的部分资金来帮助结束枪支暴力。
一名白宫高级官员表示，拜登与许多枪支暴力预防组织一样，对国会在实施新的枪支立法方面行动太慢感到沮丧。这位官员还指出，政府采取了多方面的方法来防止枪支暴力，从执法到解决系统性和根本原因。
这位官员说，到目前为止，司法部的打击力量集中在几个城市的枪支贩运走廊——这是政府打击激增的枪支暴力的综合方法的一部分——已经收回了大约2000支犯罪枪支。
9月，枪支管制倡导者大卫·奇普曼在参议院遭遇两党反对后，白宫撤回了对他的提名，由他管理酒精、烟草、火器和爆炸物管理局。他的提名已经停滞了几个月，人们普遍认为他是政府最有争议的提名人之一。
这位官员说，政府还在努力寻找另一位“高度合格的被提名人”来管理烟酒枪支和爆炸物管理局。
但这位官员表示，拜登政府仍在尽一切努力减少枪支暴力，即使没有经过确认的反枪支工作组主任。这位官员没有被授权公开发言，并在匿名的情况下与记者交谈。
众议院议长南希·佩洛西也谈到了国会试图颁布的措施。
她说:“在纽敦事件发生近十年后，平均每天有100多名美国人死于枪支暴力，全国各地的家庭支离破碎，社区陷入恐怖之中。
“为了纪念我们失去的所有人，也为了让幸存者充满希望的精神更加坚定，让我们再次下定决心，建设一个没有枪支暴力的世界，让每个孩子都能安全、有保障地成长，并能够实现他们的愿望。"
Biden: Nation owes school shooting victims more than prayers
WASHINGTON -- In a video released Tuesday, President Joe Biden spoke directly to the families of those killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School nine years ago, saying the nation owed families of mass shootings “more than our prayers. We owe them action.”
“No matter how long it’s been, every one of those families relives the news they got that day,” Biden said in the video. “Twenty precious first-graders, six heroic educators, a lone gunman and an unconscionable act of violence. Everything changed that morning for you. And the nation was shocked.”
A gunman killed 20 first-grade students and six educators inside Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on Dec. 14, 2012. The 20-year-old shooter, Adam Lanza, killed his mother at their Newtown home before the massacre, then killed himself as police arrived at the school.
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont called for flags to be lowered to half-staff across the state Tuesday in remembrance of the 26 people killed inside the school.
“We will never forget the twenty innocent children and six devoted educators whose lives were taken all too soon that terrible morning,” said Lamont, a Democrat.
Biden said it was one of the “saddest days” he and former President Barack Obama had in office. Biden said he found hope in the strength of the families and felt they could pass meaningful reform, but it came up frustratingly short.
“And it’s still frustrating now, for you and me and so many others,” he said, citing other mass school shootings in Parkland, Florida, and recently in Oxford, Michigan. “In countless communities across the country there’s these horrific shootings and make national headlines and embarrass us as a nation.”
He said such shootings happen all the time, particularly in communities of color, and there is no mention in the news.
“As a nation, we owe all these families more than our prayers, we owe them action,” he said.
Biden pointed to executive action he's taken to stop the spread of so-called ghost guns and promote safe firearms storage. He also hopes communities use some of the money from the massive spending plan to help end gun violence.
A senior White House official said Biden shared frustrations expressed by many gun violence prevention groups that Congress is acting too slowly to implement new gun legislation. The official also pointed to the administration’s multifaceted approach to preventing gun violence from enforcement to addressing systemic and root causes.
So far, Justice Department strike forces focusing on gun trafficking corridors in several cities — part of the administration’s comprehensive approach to combat surging gun violence — have led to the recovery of about 2,000 crime guns, the official said.
The White House withdrew its nomination in September of gun-control advocate David Chipman to run the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives after he ran into bipartisan opposition in the Senate. His nomination had stalled for months and he was widely seen as one of the administration’s most contentious nominees.
The official said the administration is also working to identify another “highly qualified nominee” to run the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
But the official said the Biden administration was still doing all it can, even without a confirmed ATF director, to reduce gun violence. The official wasn’t authorized to speak publicly and spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also spoke of the measures Congress is trying to enact.
“Nearly a decade after Newtown, an average of over 100 Americans are being killed by gun violence every day, shattering families and terrorizing communities across the country," she said.
"In the memory of all those we have lost, and strengthened by our survivors’ hopeful spirit, let us renew our resolve to build a world free from gun violence, so that every child may grow up safe, secure and able to reach their fulfillment.”
