Atlanta, USA:
President Donald Trump on Saturday launched another expletive-laced attack on Joe Biden during a speech to an influential gun group, while the incumbent president criticized Biden in the key battleground state of Georgia. He warned that “free” challengers were a threat to American democracy.
Trump was in Dallas, Texas, where he received support from the politically powerful National Rifle Association.
In a rambling speech to thousands of NRA members, President Trump called Biden “the worst president our country has ever had” and branded Democrats “full of bullshit.”
“You're fired, get out of here, Joe!” he said, drawing laughter from the pro-gun crowd, as he said Biden would come get his firearms.
President Trump, who avoided multiple criminal charges in an unprecedented attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election and was impeached twice as president, told the audience that Biden was “crooked” and “not a democracy.” “It's a threat,” he said.
President Trump said if Biden were a Republican, “he would be given the electric chair.”
Meanwhile, Biden was seeking support from African Americans, a key element of his coalition, and was struggling in the key southern state of Georgia, which Democrats narrowly won in 2020.
“Our democracy is really at stake,” Biden told supporters at Mary Mack's Tea Room, a Black-owned restaurant in Atlanta.
“My opponent is not a good loser, but he is a loser,” Biden said to applause.
“He's not just fixated on his loss in 2020. He's clearly upset,” Biden said, adding that something “sparked” inside Trump after that election. .
“Folks, Trump isn't running to lead America. He's running for revenge.”
“We can't let this man become president. Our children's future is at stake…We have to win this race, not for me, but for America.”
On Sunday, Biden was scheduled to address students at Morehouse College, a historically black college.
gun violence
President Trump was campaigning in Texas during a weekend break from his criminal trial in New York. He also faces criminal charges in Washington, Georgia and Florida, but the former president has always maintained that the charges are part of a plot to prevent Biden from returning to the White House.
The 150-year-old NRA, whose longtime CEO resigned in January amid a corruption lawsuit, has seen mass killings occur on a daily basis and gun violence in the United States compared to its peers. Despite its high rate, it is closely aligned with the Republican Party in opposing gun control.
Broad gun reform efforts have been stymied for decades, with courts ruling that executive actions and state efforts violate the Second Amendment's constitutional right to own firearms. has been attacked by critics.
President Trump said at a fundraising dinner in Minnesota on Friday that gun owners should vote Republican because “Democrats want to take away guns, and they do. I'll take it up,” he said.
Biden has repeatedly called for reinstating a long-lapsed ban on military-style assault weapons, among other restrictions.
Last month, the White House moved to crack down on gun shows and online gun sales that circumvent federal background checks, and several Republican-led states quickly filed lawsuits to block the move.
More than 40,000 gun-related deaths occurred in the U.S. last year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
