(*This story was updated at 10:57 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022, to correct the date of President Joe Biden’s trip to Pittsburgh)
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — President Joe Biden blasted defenders of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol during a visit to Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday while he touted his recent public safety policy victories.
“You can’t advocate for law enforcement and insurrection,” Biden said.
The president also referred to the FBI’s search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago residence in Florida, which led to threats against the agency.
“It is sickening now to see new attacks on the FBI,” Biden said. “Endangering the lives of law enforcement officers and their families for simply obeying the law and doing their job.”
The rally came after a week of repeated trips to the state that handed the White House to Biden in 2020. On Thursday Biden will deliver the prime-time address from Philadelphia about threats to national democracy. As the Capital-Star previously reported, he is scheduled to travel to Pittsburgh on *Monday for the Labor Day celebration.
Near the end of the rally, Biden spent several minutes comparing his job of adding 100,000 police officers to American communities, strengthening gun control and worsening mental health problems with the rioters who stormed the capital and those who defended them.
The president brought his legislative agenda to the Marts Center in downtown Wilkes-Barre a month after the fight against the coronavirus prevented a previously planned visit.
He framed his policy as supporting forceful community policing while avoiding language about holding bad policing accountable.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle M. Outlaw supported Biden’s argument, saying it was a step in the right direction.
Outlaw was pleased with his “total recognition that public safety is an ecosystem.”
Police, she added, must work with social services and others to keep their communities secure.
Biden repeated his 2020 campaign theme that the nation “shouldn’t defund the police but defund them.”
Outlaw agreed, saying there have been multiple cuts across departments and the same officers have been asked to take on additional positions. Bandit squad there was to be an raise in the budget In this year’s Philadelphia city budget, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
She said Biden’s agenda could aid community policing by getting police out of cars and putting them in communities. She pointed out that you can drive around one block several times before you notice all the things that you would just walk across.
This will aid build trust, she added.
Biden wasn’t just talking about law enforcement.
More than 30 years have passed since a president managed to convince both sides of Congress to agree on gun reform.
During this time, school shootings have become an ongoing tragedy, from Columbine and Newtown to Parkland and Uvalde, Texas.
Pennsylvania was not spared from the violence.
In 2003, a student killed his principal and himself using his father’s gun at Red Lion in York County. In 2006, a gunman murdered five girls at West Nickel Mines School in Lancaster County.
“You have to ask,” Biden said. “Do our children learn to read in school instead of learning to evade and hide?”
The bill passed by Congress and signed by Biden includes enhanced background checks for buyers under the age of 21. The law will also prohibit the production, sale and possession of weapons that do not have a serial number.
He talked about meeting with the parents of students who died in Uvalde, Texas, due to the need to provide DNA to identify their children.
He showed his irritation.
“DNA that will say, ‘This is my baby,'” he said. “What are we doing?”
About two hours before Biden arrived, Chris Walsh, a member of the Laborers International Union of North America, took photos of his colleagues as the Marine band played songs from “Les Miserables. Walsh said he was there “to support a president who supports the causes closest to us.”
The Dallas, Luzerne County resident was also pleased to meet the president for the first time.
“Coming from a small town, I was able to meet the president of the United States,” he said. “It’s kind of a historic event for me.”
Keith Toner, another LIUNA member, shares this opinion.
While supporting the president’s policies, he admitted he is somewhat skeptical of gun regulations.
But when it comes to schools, something needs to be done.
“I think unfortunately we’ve gotten to the point where we have to,” he said.
Before addressing the audience, U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-8th District, spoke with the Capital-Star about what he’s most proud of about the Safer Communities Act.
“I’m certainly in favor of increasing funding for community-oriented policing,” said Cartwright, who will face Republican Jim Bognet this fall in a rematch of the 2020 contest. “And that has a lot to do with it.”
He also said he was impressed by the focus on mental health issues.
He believes this can aid prevent many crimes.
“This requires solid steps to address this crisis,” Cartwright said.
One person who was excited to meet the president was Brooklyn Hamer, a 9-year-old who attends John Paul II Elementary School. Robert Morris in Scranton.
“He was friendly,” she said after taking a photo with him.
On Tuesday, he plans to brag about his adventures to his classmates. After all, she said she was the first person in her class to meet the president.
Hamer’s mother, Brittani, said she was impressed by what Biden said on Tuesday.
“I fully support the president’s plan,” she said.
Correspondent Patrick Abdalla works for the Capital-Star in northeastern Pennsylvania. Follow him on Twitter @PaddyAbs.
