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President Biden, in a strange speech at prime time on Thursday, called on Congress to take immediate action on gun control, seeking to transform emotion and anger instead as the nation recovers from a series of horrible mass shootings from New York to Texas and Oklahoma.
The United States has resisted firearms limits after heartbreaking killer attacks that have erupted more and more regularly over the past few decades, but Biden tried to channel the sentiment of some in Washington that this time it could being different as a result of a racist massacre and a massacre at an elementary school that caught the attention of the nation.
“After Columbine, after Sandy Hook, after Charleston, after Orlando, after Las Vegas, after Parkland, nothing has been done,” Biden said, discovering a litany of massively devastating murders. “This time, that can’t be true. This time we have to do something.”
Biden delivered the speech at a delicate time, as a small bipartisan group of senators was working on a package of possible arms restrictions that were expected to pass the Conservative meeting. Even modest steps would mark a remarkable change in recent years.
The president, however, called for a set of radical changes to the country’s gun laws, including a ban on assault weapons and a restriction on high-capacity magazines. The equally divided Senate political dynamic makes the odds of such proposals remote, as many Republican senators and their constituents are deeply married to gun rights as part of conservative and rural culture.
Biden said that if it was politically impossible to ban assault weapons, Congress would have to raise the age at which they can be legally bought from 18 to 21 years old. And he tried to nod his head at the feelings of gun rights supporters. “I respect the culture and tradition and the concerns of legal gun owners,” he said. “At the same time, the Second Amendment, like all other rights, is not absolute.”
But he added: “My God, the fact that most Republicans in the Senate don’t want any of these proposals to be debated or even put to a vote seems inadmissible to me.”
Speaking on June 2 about the recent mass shootings, President Biden said that “this time we have to do something” and that the second amendment “is not absolute”. (Video: The Washington Post, Photo: Demetrius Freeman / The Washington Post)
Biden has made moderate use of a president’s ability to get attention with a high-profile address in the nation. But the last few weeks have been bloody even by the standards of recent years, creating the feeling among many across the political spectrum that the country is facing a far-reaching crisis, even if Americans differ. in its nature and causes.
On May 14 in Buffalo, a white gunman opened fire on a black-run supermarket and killed 10 people. Last week in Uvalde, Texas, an 18-year-old boy killed 19 students and two elementary school teachers. In Tulsa on Wednesday, a man killed four people at a hospital after blaming a doctor at the facility for constant pain after back surgery. President and First Lady Jill Biden traveled to both Buffalo and Uvalde after the shootings to meet with the families of the victims and law enforcement officials, witnessing the grief and anguish of the families and transmitting the message from the survivors to “do something.”
This year alone, more than 200 mass shootings have taken place, defined as attacks in which four or more people, not including the shooter, are injured or killed, according to the Arms Violence Archive.
Biden has worked on arms security issues throughout his political career, advocating the passage of an assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004, as a senator and as head of President Barack Obama. on the subject after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut. Since the Buffalo shootout, he has urged Congress to take action, but so far has remained on the sidelines of direct negotiations on Capitol Hill.
On Thursday, Biden urged congressional negotiators and appealed to mid-term voters, urging them to step up background checks on gun buyers, remove legal immunity from gun manufacturers and demand the secure storage of firearms, among other things.
“I’ve been in this fight for a long time,” the president said. “I know how difficult it is, but I will never give up, and if Congress fails, I think this time the majority of the American people will not give up either. I think most of you will act to turn your outrage into turning this issue into the center of your vote. Enough. “
Some involved in the delicate talks were concerned that Biden’s speech might disrupt negotiations, but others welcomed the president’s emphatic speech.
“From what I’ve heard, it’s a moral imperative and an emotional commitment and a sense of obligation to help lead,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), One of the negotiators for gun legislation. Biden and his decision to deliver it. the address. “When people ask me how different this time is, the deep indignation and pain that is so pervasive and persuasive adds to the urgency of this moment and really sets the time for my fellow Republicans.” .
After the speech, a senior Republican aide said that Biden’s speech was probably not useful for bipartisan negotiations.
“It may be useful to Democrats, I really don’t know,” said the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks. “But for Republicans, it’s just not serious and it hurts. Literally, no one is talking about a ban on assault weapons, not even Democrats. You have to get out of the way and shut up.”
Both the Democratic and Republican senators involved, including veterans of the long-running arms debate such as Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) And John Cornyn (R-Tex.), And Senate Senate negotiators Susan Collins (R-Tex.) -Tomorrow) and Joe Manchin. III (DW.Va.): they have indicated a substantial advance in the last days. They also said the window for a deal is limited.
Ahead of Biden’s speech, two other senior Republican officials closely involved in Senate talks said they saw the speech as a sign that the White House believes an agreement could be reached and wants to position the president to take credit if negotiators they are successful.
Officials, who also spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks, warned that publicly injecting unscripted demands into the discussion could harm conversations. Whenever the president makes awkward comments, such as suggesting earlier this week that a 9mm pistol was a “large-caliber weapon” that should be banned, “it makes us back down,” said one senior Republican official.
White House officials say Biden has taken unilateral executive action to limit firearms, such as regulating home-mounted “ghost guns” that do not have serial numbers, but say it is up to Congress to enact more measures. wide and permanent. “The president can’t do this alone,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday.
Biden’s speech was a late addition to his agenda, with the White House only announcing it on Thursday afternoon and delaying the president’s scheduled departure to Rehoboth Beach, Del., Where he will stay until Monday at his home. of the beach.
Jean-Pierre said Biden had long wanted to give a high-profile address on arms issues, but did not do so because “he wanted to make sure there was room for negotiations, giving space to Congress to people leading this conversation. ” Now, however, “he felt that tonight was the right time to do it.”
Although he is a creature of the Senate and the labyrinthine legislative process, Biden has at times made comments that, at least temporarily, changed delicate negotiations on Capitol Hill, according to lawmakers on both sides. In recent months, the White House has been careful not to put the president in charge when it comes to these negotiations.
There have been no signs of serious problems so far in Senate arms talks, and his aides see Murphy and Cornyn, two respected senators within their parties, as possible axes for a deal. Republicans have indicated they may be open to modest measures, and Democrats have suggested they are willing to accept such small steps.
While any final weapons legislation will be determined by what senators can agree on, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) said Thursday in a letter to Democratic lawmakers that her House will vote next week on a wide range of arms restraint measures. who have little chance of passing the Senate.
These provisions include raising the age at which it is legal to buy a semi-automatic weapon from 18 to 21, outlawing high-capacity ammunition magazines, and subjecting buyers of “ghost guns” to background checks. The Senate package is likely to include more modest elements, such as incentives for states to pass “red flag” laws, which allow police to ask the courts for authority to confiscate the weapons of those who have shown that they are dangerous.
Jean-Pierre said on Thursday that Biden had ordered his staff to assess what additional executive measures he could take to curb armed violence.
“Reducing armed violence has been a top priority for this president since his first day in office and throughout his career, as a senator, as vice president and clearly as president,” he said. “It’s been very clear that Congress needs to act. The president has done more through executive action, as you’ve heard us say, than any other president in his first year in history.”
The House Judiciary Committee also held a meeting Thursday when Democrats passed a comprehensive package of gun control laws that party leaders hope to present for a vote as early as next week. But the committee’s debate turned into a family spectacle, with Democrats calling for bold federal action while Republicans opposed …