Im a Public School teacher of 16 years. Im an everyday and pretty average american. But most importantly, im a mother of two beautiful children. I have twins, a boy and a girl. My son is now 13, and my daughter will forever be 4. You see, my daughter was exactly 4 years, 2 months and 3 days old on march 6, 2011. This is the last time i saw her laugh, smile, or giggle. She was a vivacious little girl who was going to make a mark in this world. That day i remember sitting with her on the couch brushing her curly light brunette hair, braiding it back so it wouldnt be in her face for the day, but later that day, our lives would be forever changed. When my daughter was shot by a stray bullet. The braids, the braids i had so happily made in my daughters hair just that morning would be handed to me by a nurse placed in a plastic bag shaved from her head. Her curls would be replaced by wires. My daughter would lay in a hospital bed after brain surgery hooked up to life support machines while we waited to see if she could possibly pull through this, if there was any sign. Two days after she was shot on march 8, 2011, we made the decision to turn off life support machines. They let me hold her one last time before taking her back from me. No parent should have to endure this pain. It was when i learned that my daughter would not be coming home and i would never know who was responsible for her death that i would do whatever it takes to help prevent this tragedy from happening to another family, to another innocent child. Weve seen a Movie Theater shooting in colorado, a deadly shooting at a church in south carolina, the Virginia Beach shootings in a place of work, countless School Shootings across this country, and the largest and deadliest mass shooting right here in my hometown, las vegas. But there is a daily toll of gun violence in this country, too. 100 americans a day are shot and killed, and hundreds more are injured. They are not making national headlines, just like my daughter. This is not just a local problem. This has become a national epidemic. A crisis. And it requires a national solution. Since losing my daughter, people always ask me what they can do. You know what you can do . You can vote. Vote for a candidate that has a gun policy. Vote not just for me, but for my daughter, and everyone else who no longer can. Vote so that you will never know this pain. Thank you. Now, i would like to introduce to you congressman. Thank you, stephanie, for your courage and for reminding us whats at stake. I am not here as a congressman. Im here as the son who lost my father to gun violence when i was 19 years old. Right here in las vegas. A block away from where i grew up and where i would later work as the head of the culinary academy. My father was shot and killed while i was a freshman in college at the university of nevadareno. And on the way to the hospital in an ambulance, he passed. And so the next time i had the opportunity to see my father was at his funeral. He would never have the opportunity to see me finish school, to start my own family, or to serve my community now as member of congress. I dont want any other family to feel the pain of losing a loved one. To senseless gun violence. And i am doing everything i can as a member of congress to do our job, to pass gun safety legislation that will keep our families safe, but im also supporting someone for president who i know understands the true sacrifice and the loss that so many families have felt. Because he has experienced that same loss himself. Hes also someone who last night at the debate was the only person who brought up that ragic shooting on 1 october. The biggest mass shooting in our nations history. Hes also the only one that has taken on the n. R. A. And won. And that is why we need him as president of the United States. Im proud that hes here in nevada talking to voters about the issues that matter most. We know joe, but more importantly, joe biden knows us. He knows our pain. He knows our hopes. And our ambitions. And it gives me a great honor to introduce Vice President joe biden. Good morning, everyone. I want to thank you all for coming out. This beautiful las vegas morning. The sun is shining. People are going to work, theyre going to school. Voters in nevada are gearing up to vote in the caucus. But by the end of the day, the end of this day, approximately 100 more people across the United States will be dead because of being shot with a gun. Because of crime, because of an accident, because of a selfinflicted wound or a stray bullet or intimate partner iolence or indiscriminate Mass Shootings because of guns. Another normal day in america. But for the congressman, who was just 19 years old, as he just pointed out, lost his father to a gun, and for all the family members who are with me today standing behind me and next to me, for all the people across the country, normal, normal has become living a nightmare. On october 1, 2017, it was a normal day in las vegas. Until one man in possession of a small arsenal, assault weapons, many modified with bump stocks increasing the speed with which he could fire the weapons, and 100 rounds of ammunition with each of those assault weapons was able to in just 10 minutes take out 58 innocent lives and hundreds more were wounded. The largest mass shooting in american history. And normal . Normal, to me, and to all the people behind me, is not acceptable. No, moms like stephanie, they do not accept a world where her bright, beautiful 4yearold aughter gets cut down by a stray bullet in front of her twin brother and nothing changes. I want to say to all of you here today, it takes enormous courage to be here. Takes enormous courage. Every single time i know, every single time you show up at Something Like this or you speak to this issue, you relive as if the moment happened this moment. But youre giving people courage around the country. I dont accept that we cant stand up and say, no more. To the voices who offer those empty words of sympathy and our prayers go out to you, and then oppose oppose a change in any way that would cure this godawful problem. Ive beaten the National Rifle association nationally twice. Passed meaningful Gun Legislation at the federal level. And ill do it again. But it wont just be because ill do it. Its because moms against gun violence are now mobilized. , schoolchildren across the country are obilized, pricking the conscience of everybody out there who says my thoughts and prayers are with you. Now, i i think that i think the countrys ready. You know, and im incredibly proud of having worked so hard when i was in the United States senate in passing the brady bill with background checks. People dont realize that kept a weapon out of the hands of three million people. Three million people. Three million. Out of the hands of dangerous people. Now, we need to follow the nevada p of the legislature and the governor. Eyve shown, universal background checks here in nevada. Requiring background checks for every single gun sale. Just common sense. Its supported by 90 of the american people. Share that view. We have to get it done nationally. Just takes a little bit of backbone to stand up to the thugs. Working with Dianne Feinstein i was able to get assault weapons with highcapacity magazines and highcapacity magazines declared to be illegal, banned. We got them banned for 10 years. It had to be reauthorized, and the Bush Administration did not support that. We lost the congress. We passed it in spite of the n. R. A. Because no one needs an ar15. Something designed for no other purpose, none, other than to kill human beings. Theres no other rationale for its existence. And to kill them as quickly and as brutally as possible. Every day that we do nothing about this epidemic of assaults and assault weapons, highcapacity magazines on our streets is an insult. And the innumerable lives across this nation that have been forever shattered by this violence. As president , i promise you i will get these weapons of war off the street again. And out of our communities. So long pastime that we correct one of the most egregious special interests giveaways the United States congress has ever engaged in. The civil Liability Protections granted to gun manufacturers against being sued by the victims of gun violence. Only major industry and by the way, we talk about People Killed in war. Do yall realize counting the vietnam war and all the way through to this day, three times as many people have been killed in the United States of america as every single solitary warrior killed in vietnam to this moment. Three times. 150,000 people murdered, just since 2005. 150,000 people murdered ince 2005. We dont grant that kind of immunity to anybody else. Imagine if i stood up here and said today, i voted to give immunity to the tobacco companies. I voted to give immune at this, if i did, to say im going to vote to give immunity to drug manufacturers who poured nine billion opioids out on the market. Imagine, imagine if i stood here and said to you yall that think that or i voted for giving immunity to Oil Companies for the pollution and damage they do to the ground water supplies, to the air, etc. Folks, its just flatout immoral. Its just flatout immoral. Many republicans and some democrats like Bernie Sanders voted five times against the brady bill that i was passing. Five times. Against background checks and waiting periods. Notwithstanding the fact of the millions of people who were denied having access to a weapon of destruction because they didnt qualify, they werent responsible enough to own one. You know, any one of you and the people behind me should be able to walk into a court of law and demand that gun manufacturers with their enormous profits, enormous profits, be held accountable for the carnage that theyre responsible for inflicting on our society. I promise you if im your next president , theyre going to be held accountable. Ecause i am coming after them. 150,000 dead on our streets. Thats not counting suicides. 150,000 dead on our streets because of the glamourization of ar15s, assault weapons. What is the rationale encouraging people to buy a magazine that has 100 rounds in it, 100 bullets in it . In fact, my first day of office, im going to send a bill to the congress repealing the Liability Protection for gun manufacturers, closing the background check loopholes and waiting period, and that now let too many people slip through the cracks. And i stand with all the people here today who care about saving their children, care about not having entire general entire generation of young people scarred because theyre afraid to be shot at school. What do we do when a veteran comes home and he or she has been the victim of the victim he or she has been injured or shot in a war . We try to give them as much mental help as they can, as much support as they can dealing with the nightmare of what happened. What in gods name do you think is happening to our children . The impact on their psyche . On their very stability . What do you think . What in gods name are we doing . Look, i wrote an act. We put protections in that act saying an abuser that has been convicted of abuse can own a weapon because thats the weapon of choice, to kill their significant other. And each time that was authorized, i fought like hell to get more protection for the abused, saying those who have an order against them because they have abused could not own a weapon. Theres a bill sitting on Mitch Mcconnells desk right now as i speak, being held up by the n. R. A. And the president who is owned by the n. R. A. , that says if a boyfriend abuses you, beats you up, has whatever it is, they are not theyre exempt from being able to be told they cant own a weapon. What in gods name are we doing . Hat is the matter with us . Look, you know, we care a lot about the young boys and girls getting home safely after school today in their neighborhoods. We also know, jill and i know, in a different context the pain of losing someone. Y indiscriminate chance. Terrible car crash took the lives of my first wife and my baby daughter. Tragedy many people across this country have been through. But no one thought we couldnt do things to make cars safer. No one said, by the way, dont tell the Automobile Industry hat they not only have to have seatbelts, but they have to make sure theres airbags, they have to take other precautions. Nobody said that. We talked about dealing with the carnage on the highway. So we passed the seatbelt law, required airbags, we continue to make cars safer, require a license to drive. And for cars to be registered and insured. Jill and i know the loss. Cancer took our sons life. But no one said to jill or me that we shouldnt be passing laws that deal with the causes the toxins that cause cancer. No one said to jill or me that we should not be spending the time, effort and money to make sure that other people dont die of brain cancer. No one has said that it doesnt make sense for us to try to save millions of americans lives or dying of cancer. Why in gods name can we say that we cant do anything about 150,000 people . Being shot dead . In the United States of america, murdered . Because of gun violence . Look, why are guns different . Because of cowardice. Because of cowards. Cowards who are afraid to take on these special interests because theyre so damn powerful. Our politicians and elected leaders up to now have just been too afraid. The n. R. A. And the gun manufacturers stand up to them, but theyre afraid to stand up to the gun manufacturers and do what they know, as they say what they know in their heart, they know is the right thing to do. Its not violating anybodys Second Amendment rights. You heard me say before, if youre hunting geese, you can only have three shells in your shotgun. We protect geese better than we do people. Not me. Ive looked in the eyes of too many parents and i mean literally scores of them, whove lost their children to gun violence. And looked in the eyes of brave young people who survived School Shootings. And i made each of them a promise and made myself a promise. I promised them, and i promise all of you, i will make this promise today, those families hurting across the country, i will never, never, never, never give up this fight. Were not going to wont stop until we beat the n. R. A. And it will not stop until we an killer assault weapons, until we hold gun manufacturers liable. That is my promise to the american people. Whether im your president or i am a citizen. Fighting for it. I promise you i will not rest until we beat these guys because it is immoral whats happening. Thank you for listening. Im going to spend some time with these folks. Thank you. Some news from the cam paper trail today. The hill is reporting senator Bernie Sanders is closing the gap between him and former Vice President joe biden when it comes to black voters. According to a new nbc wall street journal poll among black democratic primary voters surveyed, 31 said theyd back biden while 29 said they backed senator sanders, which fell within the polls margin of era. Joe biden has been able to point to a strength during the democratic nomination process. And you can read more about this at thehill. Com. For live coverage of campaign 2020, well continue shortly with president trump. Hes holding a rally in las vegas this afternoon. Well have it live starting at 00 p. M. Eastern, online or you can listen live with the free radio app. Join us saturday at 6 00 p. M. Eastern for the results of the nevada caucuses. Precinct results, candidate