Vice President Biden said on Thursday that a shotgun would serve better for protection than an assault weapon during the event of a natural disaster such as an earthquake.
"[G]uess what? A shotgun will keep you a lot safer, a double-barrel shotgun, than an assault weapon in someone's hands, who doesn't know how to used it, even one who does know how to use it. You know. It's harder to use an assault weapon to hit something than a shotgun, OK. So you want to keep people away during an earthquake, buy some shotgun shells,"
Biden was responding to a question that was raised during a Google Plus Hangout about reducing gun violence.
He went on to praise policies that he credited with reducing violent crime.
"With regards to violent crime going down. I'm very proud it went down. In large part, the reason it went down is we put 100,000 cops on the street, but that didn't mean the cops were safer as a consequence of these guns, the cops were less safe the more assault weapons were on the street," he added.
President Obama tasked Biden with spearheading the administration's efforts on gun control, following the shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. The vice president has since been the public face of the White House on this issue.
Biden will travel to Richmond, Va., on Friday to hold a roundtable discussion and deliver remarks on gun safety alongside Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, Deputy U.S. Attorney General Jim Cole and other administration officials.
Read more on Biden's video chat on The Hill's Blog Briefing Room.
