After another mass shootout in the United States, the President calls on Congress to ban military-type “assault” weapons.
President Joe Biden faced increased pressure to stem gun violence amid a spate of mass shootings across the United States on Friday, but he faces an uphill battle to dramatically change permissive laws of the country on guns.
The day after an attacker kill Eight people and himself at a FedEx Corp facility in Indianapolis, Biden insisted he could tackle the problem while pushing a massive job package and working to curb the pandemic. coronavirus.
“It has to end. It’s a national embarrassment, ”Biden told the White House press conference alongside Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
Biden said Congress should ban military-grade “assault” weapons and high-capacity ammunition stores. Biden authored a similar ban in the US Senate that expired in 2004.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said earlier today that Congress should also allow victims to sue gunmakers.
The Indianapolis shooting was at least the fifth such event in as many weeks, an unwelcome return to frequent high-level violence as many residents of the country emerge from a pandemic bubble.
Biden has taken limited action so far to tighten federal gun regulations and called for more money to tackle the problem.
He will have to persuade Republicans in Congress to agree to take bigger action. This is a challenge given that previous attempts at legislation have been blocked several times over the past decade, even as hundreds of thousands of Americans have died.
The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives this year passed legislation to expand background checks for gun buyers, but it faces a high chance in the Senate as lawmakers in rural states where possession of firearms guns are prevalent wielding disproportionate influence.
Democrats and Republicans in this chamber are discussing a possible compromise. Congress has yet to pass Biden’s proposed assault weapons ban, although several states have bans in place.
Opinion polls show broad public support for tougher gun laws.
Gun control advocates on Friday said Senate Democrats should be prepared to override Republicans if necessary by ditching long-standing rules that require a supermajority to advance most laws in the chamber. The Senate is currently divided 50 to 50 between the two parties. They also said Biden is expected to demonstrate the issue is a priority by discussing it in a scheduled April 28 speech to Congress.
Frustrated victims
At a press conference organized by The Time is Now Coalition, an advocacy group, several people who have suffered losses from gun violence said on Friday they were frustrated by inaction.
“Now is the time to act, but it has been time to act for years, decades,” said Peter Read, whose daughter Mary was one of 32 people killed in mass shooting at Virginia. Tech University 14 years ago.
With roughly 121 guns per 100 people, the United States is by far the most heavily armed society in the world, and the number of gun deaths has steadily increased in recent years.
Some 43,539 Americans died of gun violence last year, more than half of them by suicide, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a research group.
At least 30 people have been killed in mass shootings in the United States in the past month alone. These events grab the headlines, but typically account for less than 1% of gun deaths each year.
The Indianapolis shooting follows deadly shootings at Atlanta-area spas and a Boulder supermarket. Police say the suspects in these incidents bought their guns legally.
Earlier this month, Biden said his administration would crack down on self-assembled phantom weapons and tightly regulate stabilizer devices that effectively turn pistols into rifles. He also said he would facilitate the adoption by states of red flag laws allowing authorities to take arms from people considered to be a danger to themselves or to others.
These initiatives do not require the cooperation of Congress, but their implementation will take time.
The Justice Department must create a paper trail to show that any rule change was not abrupt or political and has a solid basis in law to avoid anticipated court challenges.
