Biden Ends Gun-Control Speech With 'God Save the Queen, Man' (June 16, 2023)

President Joe Biden spent his speech in West Hartford, Connecticut, calling for a ban on AR-15-style rifles. Then he wrapped up with a line no one expected. “And it’s the least consequential part of this whole meeting for you, I promise. All right? God save the Queen, man,” he said [1].

Queen Elizabeth II had died nine months earlier. Biden himself had issued a statement on her death on Sept. 8, 2022, calling her “more than a monarch” [2].

He opened the same way he closed, with a joke. “I think maybe your patience exceeds your good judgment,” he told the crowd [1].

The video above shows the end of Biden’s June 16, 2023, remarks at the National Safer Communities Summit at the University of Hartford. Quotes are from the official transcript published by the American Presidency Project [1].

”Dog-Faced, Lying Pony Soldier”

The sign-off came during a rambling exit. Biden said he would usually come down to greet the crowd, but “They tell me there’s a storm coming in. Is that right?” he asked. The audience answered, “Nooo!” [1]

Biden reached for a movie line. “As that—as that scene in the John Wayne movie, ‘Don’t make me a dog-faced, lying pony soldier,’” he said, to laughter [1].

Instead of handshakes, he said, he would pose for the White House photographer in front of each section. “I’m going to stand in front of each section. No, I really mean it,” he said. Then came the Queen [1].

”Profit, Profit, Profit”

The speech itself was a call for new gun laws. “Folks, it’s time once again that we banned AR-15 rifle-style weapons, high-capacity magazines; they’re not only a weapon of war, they’re the single biggest driver of profits for the gun industry. That’s why they’re selling them. Profit, profit, profit,” Biden said [1].

He compared children in school shootings to soldiers at war. “What’s the difference between the posttraumatic stress that a soldier meets in the hills of Afghanistan and a 4-year—a fourth-grade kid meets in a classroom when they have to duck and cover? No, I’m serious,” Biden said [1].

He pointed back to the 1994 law. “As I said, we did it once before, in ‘94,” he said. “When the ban expired, mass shootings tripled” [1].

He also said that “in 2020, guns became the number-one killer of children in America. Guns. More than car accidents, more than cancer” [1].

”Probably Than All My Predecessors”

Biden boasted about his use of executive power on guns. “All told, we’ve taken more executive action to reduce gun violence than any of my predecessors—probably than all my predecessors. They’re being challenged in court, but so far, so good,” he said [1].

He turned a border question into a gun argument. “We’re talking about the fentanyl at the border and all that? I speak with the President of Mexico. ‘Will you stop sending guns to us?’” Biden said. “We are sending dangerous weapons, particularly assault weapons, to Mexico. To Mexico” [1].

“What in God’s name are we becoming if we don’t do this?” he asked [1].

”We Beat Them”

Biden celebrated the bipartisan gun law he signed in 2022. “Instead, I signed into law the Bipartisan Safer Community Act, which you’ve referenced several times today, which many have described was the most significant gun safety law in 30 years,” he said. “But for me, and for most of you, here’s what it really is: It’s an important first step” [1].

He blamed the gun industry for the opposition. “We did overcome an unrelenting opposition of the gun lobby to gun manufacturers and so many politicians who hide behind the belief that they’ll never have to pay a price for their inaction,” Biden said. “And we beat them. We beat them” [1].

A Mandela Story

Near the end, Biden told a story about Nelson Mandela. “I got to know him—Nelson Mandela—when I tried to get to Africa—to South Africa to meet him. And he came back, and he met me when he was finally freed. He met me at the White House,” Biden said. He said Mandela told him, “It always seems impossible until it gets done” [1].

By the Numbers

9 months: time between Queen Elizabeth II’s death and Biden’s sign-off [1][2].
1994: the year of the assault weapons ban Biden wanted back [1].
30 years: how long since a gun law as significant as his, Biden said [1].
2:53 p.m.: when Biden began speaking, according to the transcript [1].
30 days: the deadline President Trump gave his attorney general in 2025 to review Biden-era gun actions [4].

What Happened Next

Biden met the new king. Less than a month later, on July 10, 2023, Biden flew by helicopter to Windsor Castle “where he will meet King Charles III,” the White House press pool reported [3].

Trump reversed course on guns. On Feb. 7, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an order titled “Protecting Second Amendment Rights.” It declared that “the right to keep and bear arms must not be infringed” [4].

The order told the attorney general to review “all Presidential and agencies’ actions from January 2021 through January 2025 that purport to promote safety but may have impinged on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens” [4].

For another of Biden’s repeated lines, see HYGO News’ page on his “Where is he?” joke.