[applause] mayors and ladies and gentlemen, it is, of course, my distinct honor and pleasure to have the opportunity to introduce our good friend, my good friend, Vice President joe biden. Throughout his career as a public servant, the Vice President biden has championed issues that are critical to the prosperity and growth of americas cities and he has engaged directly with the u. S. Conference of mayors on a regular basis. During our annual meeting this past june in orlando, Vice President biden pledged the Obama Administration would make sure that the future Infrastructure Investments are more targeted to local areas. In november, last year, the Vice President hosted our leadership in the white house, to discuss the fiscal cliff and the concerns of mayors regard boast inrestor programs programs progt financing. Whenever theres major issue that demands attention, again and again and again, Vice President joe biden has shown the leadership and courage needed to help move our nation in the right direction. That is why i was certainly very heartened when president obama asked Vice President biden to lead a specific task force to develop responses to the tragedy at not only sandy hook elementary school, but the daily tragedies we see all across america. The nations mayors and Vice President biden have stood together for many, many years in support of public safety. After all, it was thensenator joe biden who championed the crime bill, which established the cops program, and included the ban on assault weapons and largecapacity magazines which congress unfortunately allowed to expire. Yesterday i was certainly personally very proud to be in the white house, with president obama and Vice President biden, unveiled a strong, comprehensive package, legislative, Regulatory Reform needed to responsible to the ongoing gun violence in americas cities and suburbs. Every day, mayors americas mayors see the carnage from assault weapons. We will make sure that the changes needed to protect our children are made. Ladies and gentlemen of the u. S. Conference of mayors, please join me in welcoming back our great friend, Vice President joe biden. [applause] thank you very much. Please. Please. Please be seated. Thank you yall very, very much. Its an honor to be back here. I like to begin by acknowledging two delwareans here that are very engaged in this subject as well. One, ive known for years and years, he is now our new mayor, Dennis Williams, dennis, dont know where you are but welcome to the conference, buddy. Great to have you. And dennis and guy back to the days when we were writing the crime bill, when dennis was a Police Officer in the city of bloomington, and also the chief Law Enforcement of delware is here, who ive known even longer. We share the same last name. The attorney general, my son beau, and i do whatever he says because he has the power to indo it. The power to indict. All kidding aside, im proud of my home state, as we used to say in the senate, point of personal privilege, the progress theyre making and thefts theyre making under the leadership of our governor on the very subject you talked about. And i say to Dennis Williams, dennis, forgive me if occasionally im so used to referring to the mayor of philadelphia as my mayor, because i spend about half my life in philadelphia. And now that my granddaughter resides in the city limits i want to be particularly good. My daughter is also a voter there as well, so ive got to be particularly on good behavior. Ladies and gentlemen, its a pleasure to be back. I look forward to this opportunity every chance i get, from the time i was a young fella, new to the United States senate. Its one of the groups with whom ive had a relationship for a long, long time and always nice to be with a group of people who you agree with on 80 of the issues 90 of the time. So its nice to be with you. I know youve come to talk about a broad range of very important challenging issues that is facing each of these cities and towns. Energy, infrastructure, budgets, finances, crime, and i want you to know that we, the president and i, the important part of that is the president continues to be absolutely committed to do all we can to help the cities deal with the immense problems that get thrust upon them as a consequence of diminished tax bases and the consequence of housing, the significant portion of the public and their states that are in most need. Were committed to having a third phase of the socalled big deal on the budget. Were of the view that just as it took during the clinton administration, it didnt happen in one fell swoop to get our economy in great shape and move toward a balanced bump started off with three phases. Started with president bushs actions, the first president bush, in terms of taxation, before president clinton took office. Then the actions the president took in 94 and then in 97. Well, we think theres a third phase here that can set our country on a path that will allow us to get our debt, the gdp, our deficit to gdp, down around 3 , which is the basis of which all economists left, right, center, agree, are the areas which we really can begin to grow as a country. And also my grandfather used to say, with the grace of god and good will of the neighbors, cooler heads will prevail between now and the time we deal with the debt ceiling, that we may very well be able to meet the goal which we set out to do, which is to have roughly a 4 trillion cut over ten years, and in the longterm deficit and put us on that path. But i didnt come here to talk about any of those important subjects today because, as important as they all are, today we have a more urgent and immediate call, and that is how to deal with the epidemic of gun violence in america. You all know the statistics very well so im not going to repeat them. On that score, i might add, oui an incredible debt of gratitude to many of you at the head table as well as those of you in the room. I know we dont have absolutely unanimity in this ballroom, nor do we in anyway ballroom, but we all know, everyone acknowledges, we have to do something. We have to act. I hope were all agreed that theres a need to respond to the carnage on our streets and in our schools. I hope we all agree that Mass Shootings like the ones we witnessed in newton 34 days ago, cannot continue to be tolerated. That tragedy in all my years in public life i think that affected the public psyche in a way ive never seen before. The image of first graders, not only shot, but riddled with bullets. Parents in the streets panicking, trying to find out if the child they put on the bus in the morning had any prospect of getting back on that bus and going home that afternoon. For 20 of those parents, the answer was, no. And i believe, as im sure you do, we have an obligation to respond intelligently and to that crisis. And i know many of you feel the same way. Ive had the occasion to talk to a number of you, and i wanted to start by thanking all of you, including mayor bloomberg, who is not here today. I spoke to him on the phone. Thank you for your input and your insight. Again, not all agree on what should be done. But you have obviously probably more than any group of elect officials, thought about this issue more intently and longer. Youve done great deal of work on this, all youve who deal with the issue every day. Im not going to ask for a show of hands but i bed if i did a lot of people would put the hand up how many of you mayors have had to attend the funeral of a Police Officer or an innocent child in a driveby shooting or a shop owner in your city. Many of you have had to attend, and some of you many, too many, such funerals. Some of you represent communities that hear experienced Mass Shootings, not just in schools but in movie theaters and temples, and its not unique to big cities and urban areas, as we now know. It was pure companiens dense i happened to be literally probably turn out to be a quarter mile , back in 2006, at an outing, when i heard gunshots in thewoods that we didnt know we thought they were hunters. Got back to the clubhouse and saw helicopters. It was a shooting that had just taken place in a small amish small small amie, school just outside of lancaster, pennsylvania. So its not just big cities or welltodo suburbs. It can happen anywhere. But i also know that its not just about Mass Shootings. As my friend, michael, knows, and as my mayor, Dennis Williams knows, in wilmington, the murder rates in both of our up toes are wellor, well beyond, and some of yours are well beyond what is remotely tolerable for a civilized circumstance. It isnt just about Mass Shootings. Its about gun violence of all kinds. Think of it this way. Over the last several years, about 25 people die of gunrelated homicides in this country every single day. Every day. Which is the equivalent of the third most deadly mass shooting in history. Happening every 24 hours in this country. As much as we intend on making schools the focus, making them more secure, as mayor, i know imanuel of chicago, said most schools are safe. Its going to and from school when young people are in the greatest danger. But we dont see that on the news very much anymore. We hear about Mass Shootings. But not everyday gun violence that is ravaging our cities. I remember my friend really was my friend always looked up to him, always considerably senior to him in seniority, Daniel Patrick moynihan. And we were trying to get through the what was then called the biden crime bill, became the clinton bill, which you have all taken advantage of. Were on the floor debating this issue, anden Daniel Patrick moynihan stood up and said, as only he could, he told the story of the valentines day massacre in 1929. And how it shocked the world when seven gangsters were gunned down in cold blood. It made the front page, according to Daniel Patrick moynihan, of every major paper in the nation and many around the world. Then the looked up and said, but in 1992, when a woman saved her threemonthold baby from execution by hiding that baby under the bed, but she was shot and killed, along with her husband and her teenage son, that story and he took out the New York Times turned up on the second section, buried in the back of the New York Times. It wasnt frontpage news. It was barely news at all. Ill never forget what he said. He said i call that defining deviancy down. Defining deviancy down. How it wasnt even news. If that happened in 1929, it would have been astonishing. Well, folks, we can no longer continue to define deviancy down. We cant wait any longer to take action. The time has come. As you know, this week i delivered a set of recommendations to the president to president obama on how we can better protect america from gun violence. Ive been getting both credit and blame for that, as if these were original ideas of mine. I want to make it clear. What every deputy mayor knows, the only power and felonies the Vice President has is reflective power. None of it matters. No matter what someone tries to give you credit for, were were not the leadership of the United States. This is the president of the United States. I am his agent. This is the president of the United States. And he asked me to good to go back because of my year of experience in judiciary commit year, asked me to go back and do as quick a survey as i could, as thorough as i could in a short time frame, and present him with a set of recommendations. I had the incredible helm help of some really firstrate cabinet mebosesstarting with our attorney general, secretary of education, secretary of Homeland Security, secretary of health and Human Services, and we met with a range of 229 groups. Representing a wide ranged perspective, from members of the Law Enforcement community, including many from your cities and states, to gun safety advocates, victims of the shootings, both down in virginia as well as out in colorado, sportsmens organization. Hunters, gun owners, the nra. Representatives of the video game and movie destroy. Educators, retailers and Public Health officials. And as i said, i spoke to many of you in this room as well, along with the governors and the county executives. And no group was more consequential or instrumental in shaping of the document we put together for the president , than all of you in this room. To those conversations with you and other stakeholders, after literally hundreds of hours of work and Research Done by experts at the Justice Department and the department of Homeland Security and elsewhere, after reviewing just about every idea that had been written up, only to gather dust on the shelf, of some agency, in government, a set of principles emerged, that there was not universal agreement on, but overall whelming consensus on, and they were the foundation of the recommendations. If youll permit me about another 1012 minutes, i want to lay out to you what they are from the perspective of the president and me. The first foundational principle is, there is a second amendment. The president and i support the second amendment. And it comes with the right of lawabiding, responsible citizens to own guns. Use it for their protection as well as for recreation. The second foundational principle, certain people in society should not, and legally can be disqualified from, being able to own a gun because they are unstable or they are dangerous. They are not the citizens that in fact the vast majority of gun owners xray. Owners comprise. Three, we should make commonsense judgments about keeping dangerous weapons off our streets. Clearly within the purview of the government, at the same time recognizing, honoring, and being compliant with the second amendment. And four, this isnt just about guns. Its about the coarsening of our culture. The coarsening of our culture. Whether its the video games or movies or behavior, its about the able to Access Mental Health services, and the safety of our schools. Its a very complex problem, and requires a complex solution. Based on these principles, and the input of a vast array of groups and experts, we put together a comprehensive plan based upon a commonsense approach, which i believe, from heading up this group, there really is overwhelming consensus there are disagreements in degree, but the consensus on the principles ive laid out. We asked a number of questions. And by the way, we recognize how different all our states and cities are. How different the gun culture is a healthy gun culture in Rural America than in urban america. How different the gun culture is in states which are overwhelm my little state of delware, most of you probably dont realize, we have one of the highest per capita gun ownerships of hunters in america because of duck hunting and all these magnificent tributaries from the delware bay to the chesapeake bay, and she various rivers that flow into the bay. Its a paradise for hunters. Its a big business as well as an institutional it is cultural. I remember a woman named miss ann messing from delware. One reason i got elected. Said, joey talk at me like thats, and dennis may remember. He said i want to show you something my daddy gave me. This is a woman who was 78 years old. She walked in the backyard and says you know, it is duck season right now. I mean, goose season. Dont get mad. She walks into her den and takes a shotgun off over the fireplace this woman is almost 80 years old and walks out and she said, my daddy told me how to steady aim, and i won a lot. Boom. Now, if you did that in Upper East Side of manhattan, we got a problem. But its really important, by the way, because some of you who share very strong feelings about gun control, i think its important to understand its part of the ethics for a lot of us where a lot of us come from. But its not this culture. The recognition of the differences in the cultural behavior and attitude, from arizona to new jersey, although south jersey, its a big deal, too, hunting. But my generic point here is, recognizing those differences doesnt in any way, negate the rational prospect of being able to come up with commonsense approaches how to deal with the myriad problems that relate to gun ownership. Who has that gun . So we asked a number of questions. The first question we asked is who should be prohibited and legally prohibited from owning a gun . Current law has evolved over time. And we have we considered the question. My senior year in 1968, graduating, was an incredible year. Bobby kennedy was assassinated, two days before i walk across the stage in graduation. Dr. King, the guy who got me engaged in politics as dennis and others will tell you, was assassinated earlier in that year. Even had the assassination attempt at george wallla. When i look back at 68, its a wonder things held together, quite frankly. Well, the Congress Passed what was then called the gun control act. And among other things it said that felons, fugitives, drug users, those who have been adjudicated and did not a politically correct phrase now but in the law those who have been adjudicated mentally defective, is what the law says, cannot lawfully own a gun. Then in 1994, as the world exchanged the country changed, we added new category of people who were prohibited from purchasing guns, based on facts, not based of fiction, not based on president s, and that is those who had a res