Vice President Biden goes to Connecticut in an effort to stoke gun control campaign

Twelve miles from the scene of the Sandy Hook Elementary school massacre, Vice President Joe Biden made a passionate case for the new gun control measures President Obama referenced in his State of the Union address. “America has changed on this issue,” Biden said. “There is a moral price to be paid for inaction.”

Biden laid out the set of proposals which included universal background checks for gun sales, ban on military-grade assault weapons and limits on the size of magazines. He also stressed the importance of maintaining the momentum created by the Sandy Hook massacre.

“We have to speak for those 20 beautiful children who died 69 days ago 12 miles from here. They can’t speak for themselves. We have to speak for the voice of those six adults who died trying to save the children and their care that day who can’t speak for themselves,” he said. “You have to speak for the 1,900 people who have died at the other end of a gun just since Sandy Hook in this country.”

“Newtown has transformed America, and we need to build on that sense of urgency going forward,” U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal said. “Preventing gun violence was thought to be untouchable politically two months ago. That unspeakable horror has given us unstoppable momentum.”

Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy also spoke at the the conference and expressed frustration at the length of time it has so far taken the state legislature to respond to his proposals for gun control in the state that would include banning the types of weapons used at the Sandy Hook massacre.

“Two months ago, our state became the center of a national debate after a tragedy we never imagined could happen here,” Malloy said. “We have changed. And I believe it is now time for our laws to do the same.”