White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre: Greater School Security Not Something Biden ‘Believes In’ Since ‘The Problem Is with Guns’

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday Joe Biden has no interest in Republican proposals that focus on “hardening schools,” i.e., installing greater security and safety measures, because “the problem is with guns.”

Asked if she could elaborate on Biden’s promise to meet with members of Congress on new gun laws, Jean-Pierre said  gun violence is an “epidemic” across the country:

So the President is — is — look, he’s been calling for action for some time. What we have seen these — in particular these past two weeks with these mass shootings in Buffalo — and we saw the President go to Buffalo and grieve with the family there. We saw the President, just — and the First Lady — just this past Sunday, go to Texas to grieve with the parents there. And it is heart wrenching what we’re experiencing. This is a epidemic — the gun violence that we’re seeing across the — across the country. And we have to do something and we have to — we have to continue to make efforts to act to protect our kids, to protect people going to the grocery store.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre says proposals that deal with "hardening schools…is not something that" President Biden "believes in" b/c "the problem is with guns" in America. pic.twitter.com/l19Mo0Yw3h

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 31, 2022

Claiming Biden has “done everything that he can from … the federal government,” including “more executive actions at this point than any other president,” Jean-Pierre continued, “and, so, Congress needs to act so we can have federal law – legislation on the books so we can stop this epidemic that we’re seeing across the country.”

“I know there’s been conversation about hardening schools; that is not something that he believes in,” she added. “He believes that we should be able to give teachers the resources to be able to do the job, that they’re meant to do at schools. And this is something that he’s been focusing on since he was the vice president.”

The press secretary had another question posed to her:

The President said yesterday that he believes Senator McConnell is a “rational Republican.” Senator McConnell said today that the group of lawmakers that are talking about guns in the wake of Uvalde are talking about the problem, which is quote, “mental illness and school safety.” Does the President agree that that’s the problem here?

While Jean-Pierre agreed Biden thinks McConnell is a “rational Republican” who can “come together and work on a bipartisan” gun bill, she added:

He does not believe — and we’ve talked about this, he’s talked about this: You know, we are the only country that is dealing with gun violence at the rate that we’re dealing. And other countries have mental health issues.  So, what’s the problem here?

“And so, the problem is – the problem is what … is with guns and not having – and not having legislation to really deal with an issue that is a pandemic here in this country,” she said.

Virginia Lt. Governor Winsome Earle-Sears (R) expressed a very different view Friday in the wake of the Uvalde school massacre.

She published some of her comments as well in a series of tweets.

https://t.co/S8lMDtTDaK
From the perspective of a father

— Lt. Governor of Virginia – Winsome Earle-Sears (@WinsomeSears) May 28, 2022

“Indeed, we have left goodness, gentleness, and kindness behind, only to be left loathing, crudeness, greed, and sloth,” she said. “Every man for himself, we are easily offended. Cruelty abounds. Forgiveness is a dirty word.”

"We are told that guns are the problem but if we fail to identify the real problem, we come away with the wrong solutions." #mentalhealth

— Lt. Governor of Virginia – Winsome Earle-Sears (@WinsomeSears) May 28, 2022

“We have proposed laws that say that a baby can be aborted up to the day of birth, yet we conduct surgery in the womb,” she observed. “Our language has degenerated such that F-bombs and even the startling MF bombs are spoken across our airways without so much as a gasp or even a clutch of the pearls, real or fake.”

“We have fathers who aren’t home,” the lieutenant governor added. “We have emasculated our men. Our children are at stake. You notice that these shooters, they have had family problems. The Parkland shooter – 37 times police were called to his home.”

"We need to ensure that every school has the resource officers and security measures to protect our children, teachers, and administrators." – Winsome @nrawomen Leadership Forum #whatisaid #Winsome #LG42

— Lt. Governor of Virginia – Winsome Earle-Sears (@WinsomeSears) May 28, 2022

“It’s not the gun,” she concluded.

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Susan Berry, PhD, is national education editor at The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].