Joe Biden misstated the date of the Parkland, Florida, attack that killed 17 people and injured 17 back in 2018, which at the time was considered the deadliest mass shooting to take place at a US high school.
While applauding lawmakers for the passage of a bipartisan gun reform bill that was signed into law in June, the US president began delivering remarks that stressed the need for more action to be undertaken by elected officials to protect the public from gun violence.
Mr Biden began citing recent incidents while also calling back to historic mass shootings to underscore the ongoing need to get gun legislation passed. He recalled the recent Uvalde, Texas, shooting that left 19 elementary-age children dead and the Highland Park Independence Day massacre where seven people were killed in broad daylight while attending a family parade.
“Fort Hood, Texas, 2009, 13 dead, 30 more injured. Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, 1918, 17 dead, 17 injured,” the president said, getting the dates and figures correct for the first mass shooting he cited, but mistaking the date of the 14 February Parkland attack as occurring 100 years before it happened.
On Valentine’s Day in 2018, expelled student Nikolas Cruz entered Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and opened fire on classmates using a legally purchased AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.
“In both places, red flag laws could’ve stopped both those shootings,” the president added, highlighting a portion of the $13bn (£10bn) measure that calls for states to adopt red-flag laws, which make it easier for authorities to take weapons from people deemed to be dangerous by law enforcement or family members.
The latest misquote from the US president arrived on the heels of a New York Times poll which found that most Democrats queried – more than 60 per cent – in the survey said they didn’t want the current commander-in-chief to seek reelection in 2024. A sizable 33 per cent of the respondents cited the 79-year-old president’s age as a chief concern. Three per cent noted that they didn’t believe he had the mental acuity to run for a second term.
In tandem with stating the incorrect date for the Parkland shooting, Mr Biden’s remarks on the South Lawn were also briefly knocked off kilter when he was interrupted mid-speech by a father whose 17-year-old son was killed during that 2018 Valentine’s Day mass shooting.
“We have to do more than that! I’ve been trying to tell you this for years,” said Manuel Oliver, a fierce advocate for pushing for stronger gun legislation since his teenage son’s untimely death.
Mr Biden, who asked the infuriated Mr Oliver to “sit down” and hear the rest of what he had to say before challenging him, asked the White House security to let the Florida-native stay. The man was escorted off the premises shortly after making the interruption.
Outlined in the gun reform bill is the inclusion of stricter background checks for young gun buyers, alongside programs for school safety, mental health and violence prevention.
Speaking to the Miami Herald after the incident unfolded, Mr Oliver told reporters that there was “nothing to celebrate” because the recently passed gun reform law, in his opinion, doesn’t go nearly far enough to prevent the kind of mass shooting that robbed his 17-year-old son’s life more than four years ago.
“It’s a big lie. We lie between ourselves thinking we have a solution to this when we actually don’t. There was no need for this event. At all,” Mr Oliver said to the Florida newspaper. “It was my chance to say something to the president, and that’s a chance we don’t have every single day.”
Prior to the event, Mr Oliver had the chance to meet with the president, the White House said, during which Mr Biden agreed with the grieving father that more progress needs to be made on gun legislation.
“The president met with him earlier today before the event,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Monday at her daily briefing. “He agrees that we need to do more.”
