Joe Biden Tells Parkland Dad Who Interrupted Gun Speech to 'Let Me Finish'

President Joe Biden told Manuel Oliver, a father of a teenager killed in the 2018 Parkland, Florida, school shooting, to "let me finish" when Oliver interrupted his speech celebrating a bipartisan gun safety law on Monday.

Biden signed the law, which includes some safety measures intended to prevent school shootings, last month following the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas. The law is lauded by the Biden administration as progress toward stricter gun laws, but some gun control advocates have said it does not go far enough to prevent mass shootings. Biden held a ceremony to celebrate the law's passage on Monday.

Oliver's son, Joaquin Oliver, was one of the 17 students killed in Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. Oliver has become an advocate for stricter gun laws following the shooting.

During the speech, Biden boasted that the legislation "proves, despite the nay-sayers, we can make meaningful progress on dealing with gun violence," when Oliver began to interrupt him, appearing to criticize the legislation for not going far enough to curb gun violence.

"I've been trying to tell you this for years," Oliver said.

Biden responded: "Make no mistake—sit down. You'll hear what I have to say. Let me finish my thought."

Biden also encouraged the crowd to "let [Oliver] talk."

The president defended the legislation as "meaningful progress" while also agreeing with Oliver that "more has to be done" on gun control.

A clip of the interruption was posted to Twitter by C-SPAN, and debates about the incident ensued, as some Twitter users said Biden should not have told the gun control activist to "sit down," while others praised the president for telling the crowd to let him talk.

Ahead of the event, Oliver tweeted: "The word CELEBRATION has no space in a society that saw 19 kids massacred just a month ago. 'Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.' Not me, not Joaquin."

During an appearance on CNN, Oliver warned that the legislation "is like giving a green light to wait another 30 years to do something else," adding that "we're not going to let that happen."

The bill contains some wins for gun control advocates. It closes the "boyfriend loophole," meaning it prevents those convicted of abuse against a partner they are dating from obtaining a firearm. It also includes funding for states with "red flag laws," which allow a judge to remove guns from people believed to be a danger to themselves or others, and for mental health programs.

It does not, however, include other measures favored by gun control advocates, such as a ban on AR-15-style rifles, the type of firearms often used by mass shooters.

Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment.