Biden Calls for Police Reform and "Assault Weapon" Ban in State of the Union Address

President Joe Biden invited the parents of Tyre Nichols, the man who was died from injuries suffered in the custody of five fired Memphis officers, to the State of the Union address Tuesday night. Biden referenced Nichols’ parents as he called for police reform.

“It's up to us, to all of us. We all want the same thing: neighborhoods free of violence, law enforcement who earns the community's trust. Just as every cop, when they pin on that badge in the morning, has a right to be able to go home at night, so does everybody else out there. Our children have a right to come home safely,” Biden said.

Biden said “the vast majority” of officers are honorable to a standing ovation from the audience. “And they risk their lives every time they put that shield on.”

He called for police reform that would give officers better training and “hold them to higher standards.”

Referencing the Uvalde school massacre and the active shooter attack on a California dance studio in January, Biden called for new gun laws and a ban on “assault weapons.”

“Ban assault weapons now! Ban them now! Once and for all,” Biden exclaimed.

“I led the fight to do that in 1994. And in 10 years that ban was law, mass shootings went down. After we let it expire in a Republican administration, mass shootings tripled.

“Let's finish the job and ban these assault weapons,” he said.