Joe Biden proclaimed in an interview broadcast late Wednesday (June 8) that he "won't emulate Trump's abuse of the constitution" when questioned about implementing gun laws.
During his appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Wednesday night, the 79-year-old president discussed gun control after the talk show host asked him why executive orders have not been enacted yet in response to the recent mass shootings across the US.
In what was his first in-studio late-night appearance since becoming president, Kimmel, 54, reminded Biden of the last time he appeared on the show in September 2019.
"You said we needed to do something about gun violence, particularly when it comes to schools," Kimmel reminded the POTUS. "Halfway through this year already, and there have been 27 shootings at schools? Why haven't we done anything about this?"
Watch Biden's interview below:"I think a lot of it is intimidation by the NRA. This is not your father's Republican Party. This is a MAGA party," Biden replied. "It's a very different Republican Party."
Kimmel responded that while the Republican party has "moved hard-right," perhaps the people under haven't because they "overwhelmingly believe we should have serious background checks" when it comes to possession of weapons.
The president then mentioned the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas last month, which saw 18-year-old gunman Salvador Ramos kill 19 students and two teachers.
Biden told Kimmel that he spoke with the grieving community: "I met with every single family member, of all those kids, and the teachers, who were killed in Uvalde, Texas."
"They stayed with me for almost four hours. Almost 200 of them, family and extended family. The stories they told. The pain on their faces," he continued.
Interjecting, the talk show host asked: "Can't you issue an executive order? Trump passed those out like Halloween candy."
Biden replied: "I have issued executive orders within the power of the presidency to be able to deal with everything having to do with guns, gun ownership… all the things that are within my power."
"What I don't want to do – and I'm not being facetious – is emulate Trump's abuse of the constitution and constitutional authority."
"And I mean that sincerely because I often get asked, 'Look, the Republicans don't play it square, why do you play it square?' Well, guess what. If we do the same thing they do, our democracy will literally be in jeopardy," he added.
The president noted that in 1994, he sponsored an assault weapons ban and said that violence and gun crime decreased in the decade it was in effect. However, after the Bush administration came into power, the law wasn't authorized.
"You could own assault weapons again. And guess what? Crime went up significantly," the president said. "There is a direct correlation between the kinds of weapons that can be had [and crime]."
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