Vice President Biden says the community college shooting in Oregon that left 10 dead and seven wounded Thursday is a consequence of the “dysfunction” in Washington.
“Part of the dysfunction of our political system today is that there’s an overwhelming consensus in America on two things: the Second Amendment and sane gun legislation relating to background checks,” Biden said at the Concordia Summit in New York City on Thursday.
{mosads}“And the ability to — the Second Amendment doesn’t say you can own a bazooka, it doesn’t say you can own an F-15 with hellfire missiles. There’s the ability of government to limit the type of weapon that is available.”
Authorities say the 26-year-old man who opened fire on Umpqua Community College has been killed.
Biden pointed to polls that he claimed show broad support for gun control legislation.
“Eighty-seven percent of the American people agreed with the proposal that I put together for the president on background checks and gun safety,” he said. “Even over 60 percent of … National Rifle Association families support it.”
“So folks, I cite that as part of the dysfunction because we’re able to have decided minorities to prevent consensus from occurring,” he added.
Biden, whose son Beau died in May, said there is nothing more difficult for parents than to get a phone call saying they’ve lost a child.
“As you all know, there’s few things worse than getting that phone call saying your child is gone,” the vice president said. “Your child is gone. Or your brother, your sister, your husband, your wife.”
Biden said that because his wife is a community college professor, school shootings always hit home.
“It brings home every time something happens at a school just how the safest place on earth should be our schools and our colleges,” he said. “But that’s for another day.”
Biden is currently mulling a run for the Democratic presidential nomination, but has said he is not sure he can handle the emotional demands of a campaign following his son’s death.
He said he is in “no rush” to make a decision on whether to enter the race, and reports indicate he plans to skip the first primary debate.
Updated at 8:24 p.m.