The father of one of the Parkland High School mass shooting victims was booted out of a press conference by President Biden’s security team.
Manuel Oliver, whose son Joaquin Oliver was gunned down at only 17 years old in the horrific shooting, was in attendance at a White House event to celebrate the passing of a bipartisan gun safety bill.
While Biden was bragging about the new bill becoming law, hailing it as “meaningful progress” on gun safety, Oliver stood up and yelled, “We have to do more than that! I’ve been trying to tell you this for years.”
The president then fired back at the heartbroken father, saying, “Sit down – you’ll hear what I have to say. Let me finish my comments.”
White House security then came over and began speaking to Oliver. It was at this point that Biden appeared to change his mind, telling his staff, “Let him talk; let him talk.”
Despite the direct order, the White House staffers appeared to ignore their boss and remove Mr. Oliver from the event.
Oliver had expressed his upset at Biden and his new bill even before attending the event. Earlier in the same day he went on CNN and blasted the White House for how they handled the situation.
The Parkland father told CNN that the event felt like a party despite its tragic nature, saying he and other parents of dead children received celebratory invitations.
“It’s been a while that I’ve been calling out that using the words celebration, getting together, it’s like we’re going to a party, to a wedding today, you know, we all received invitations. And meanwhile, you can see these mothers in Uvalde that just saw how their kids were massacred inside a school,” he said.
Manuel Oliver also said he felt the bill was really just another political stunt and that all it really is doing is “giving a green light to Congress to wait another 30 years to do something.”
While Mr Oliver was the only one to make a scene at the White House event, its almost a guarantee that other parents at the event felt the same way after losing their kids. Do you think Biden actually believes his new bill will accomplish anything meaningful?
