Bidens pay their respects in Maine
They lay flowers at bar where gunman opened fire in Lewiston shooting
Lewiston, Maine — President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden added a bouquet of white flowers Friday to a makeshift memorial outside Schemengees Bar and Grille, one of the scenes of the state’s deadliest mass shooting.
They stood for a moment of silence before bending over to hug bar owner Kathy Lebel. Eight people died there in the Oct. 25 massacre, along with seven at the nearby Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley. Three others died at hospitals.
Biden came to Lewiston to do what presidents do in these moments of horror and grief; lend comfort to the families of the victims and to show support for a reeling community. But it’s a type of trip that has become all too familiar, despite a bipartisan gun safety law passed last year after another mass shooting, and despite a series of executive orders by the president meant to stop gun violence.
“Too many times the president and first lady have traveled to communities completely torn apart by gun violence,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on the eve of the Bidens’ trip on Friday. “We can’t accept it as normal.”
Besides those killed, 13 people were injured in the shootings.
Joni Ramos of Lewiston spent part of the day tying ribbons to poles in tribute to the victims, and in the hope Biden would see them.
“We are in high hopes that he will see all of the ribbons that we have around the community to see how strong of an impact this has had on us and how important it is to have him in the community at this time,” Ramos said.
The Democratic president has said he’s determined to fight gun violence in the U.S. He created the first White House office of gun violence prevention, which is charged with finding solutions and fully implementing landmark gun safety legislation enacted last year. He’s also pushing for a ban on so-called assault weapons.
The president has already visited other communities scarred by mass shootings. He’s been to Buffalo, N.Y.; Uvalde, Texas; and Monterey Park, Calif., just in roughly the past year.
“There are too many other schools, too many other everyday places that have become killing fields, battlefields here in America,” Biden said during a speech on gun violence last year.