'Safer America': Biden pushes new crime prevention plan while in Pennsylvania
President Joe Biden addressed the surge in gun violence at an event in Pennsylvania Tuesday where he pitched his crime prevention plan. (SBG)
WASHINGTON (TND) — President Joe Biden addressed the surge in gun violence at an event in Pennsylvania Tuesday where he pitched his crime prevention plan.
But some critics say guns aren't the problem — they say it’s crime not being prosecuted is what's troubling America.
"As we've seen too often, public trust is frayed, it is broken, and it undermines public safety when it gets frayed," Biden said.
The president was on the road in the battleground state of Pennsylvania promoting his Safer America Plan during a speech on gun violence and crime.
“When it comes to public safety in this nation, the answer is not defund the police, it’s fund the police,” Biden said.
His fiscal year 2023 budget requests a new investment of about $35 billion to support law enforcement and crime prevention in the U.S.
“We took on the NRA and we’re going to take them on again. We won and we’re going to win again,” Biden said. “I’m determined to ban assault weapons. Determined.”
The president’s speech comes just days after the high-profile shooting of Washington Commanders rookie running back Brian Robinson Jr. in Washington, D.C. during a carjacking attempt.
“Any person, regardless of their age, who uses a gun needs clear and certain consequences,” said D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser.
Some argue the violence is not just about guns — which are illegal in many major cities — but about the lack of prosecution of gun-related crimes.
Jason Johnson of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund says it comes down to enforcement and accountability.
“Those laws are very strict but their enforcement is spotty at best and many elected district attorneys in some of these cities have instituted policies against aggressive enforcement of even gun laws,” Johnson said.
Biden's speech comes as gun policy and crime are growing in importance for voters.
A Pew Research poll released last week shows six in 10 voters now rate those issues as very important to their vote in November, now ranking as the number two and number three top issues behind the economy.
On Thursday, Biden will make another stop in Pennsylvania.
The president plans to give a major prime-time address outside Philadelphia's Independence Hall taking aim at what he calls an extreme GOP agenda and the threat to the rule of law — what he is calling the "soul of the nation."