- Biden says he has put an end to the “murder camps” in the United States
- Calls for arms control measures to stop mass shootings
- He urges Congress to act or the voters will
- The gun lobby rejects Biden’s call and says he will violate the rights
WASHINGTON, June 2 (Reuters) – Declaring “Enough, Enough!” U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday called on Congress to ban assault weapons, expand background checks, and implement other arms control measures to deal with a series of mass shootings that have affected United States.
Speaking from the White House, in a live broadcast at prime time, Biden asked a country stunned by the recent shootings at a Texas school, a grocery store in New York and a medical building in Oklahoma, how many more lives would be needed to change gun laws in America.
“For God’s sake, how much more carnage are we willing to accept?” Biden asked.
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Biden described his visit to Uvalde, Texas, where the school shooting took place. “I couldn’t help but think that there are too many other schools, too many other everyday places that have become murder camps, battlefields, here in America.”
The Democrat president called for a series of measures that Republicans opposed in Congress, such as banning the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines or, if that were not possible, increasing the minimum age to buy these weapons at 21 years old. 18. He also pushed for the repeal of the shield of responsibility that protects gun manufacturers from being sued for violence perpetrated by people carrying their weapons.
“We can’t fail the American people again,” Biden said, urging Republicans, especially in the U.S. Senate, to vote on bills with gun control measures.
Biden said that if Congress did not act, he believed Americans would be the central issue when voting in the November midterm elections.
The National Rifle Association’s arms lobby said in a statement that Biden’s proposals would violate the rights of law-abiding gun owners. “This is not a real solution, it is not true leadership and it is not what the United States needs,” he said.
The United States, which has a higher gun death rate than any other rich nation, has been shaken in recent weeks by mass shootings of 10 black residents in upstate New York, 19 children and two teachers in Texas and two doctors, a receptionist and a patient in Oklahoma.
Lawmakers are considering measures to expand background checks and pass “red flag” laws that would allow law enforcement officers to take out weapons from people suffering from mental illness. But any new measure faces major hurdles on the part of Republicans, especially in the Senate, and moves to ban assault weapons do not have enough support to move forward.
The second amendment to the US Constitution protects the right of Americans to bear arms. Biden said the amendment was not “absolute” while adding that the new measures he was giving were not intended to take away people’s weapons.
“After Columbine, after Sandy Hook, after Charleston, after Orlando, after Las Vegas, after Parkland, nothing has been done,” Biden said, marking a list of mass shootings for more than two decades. “That can’t be true this time.”
U.S. President Joe Biden talks about armed violence during a White House speech in Washington, USA on June 2, 2022. REUTERS / Leah Millis
Read more
SULGATION OF GRANDMOTHER DOLT
Gun security advocates have pushed Biden to take stronger measures on his own to curb armed violence, but the White House wants Congress to pass legislation that would have a more lasting impact than any presidential order. Read more
Biden’s afternoon speech was intended, in part, to keep the issue at the forefront of voters’ minds. The president has only delivered a handful of White House nightly speeches during his tenure, including one on the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 and one on the Texas shooting last week.
More than 18,000 people have died from gun violence in the United States by 2022, including homicide and suicide, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit research group.
Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom passed stricter gun laws after mass shootings in their countries, banning assault weapons and increasing background checks. America has experienced years of massacres in schools, shops, and jobs and worship without any such legislation.
A large majority of U.S. voters, both Republicans and Democrats, favor stronger gun control laws, but Republicans in Congress and some moderate Democrats have blocked the legislation for years. Read more
Stock prices for arms manufacturers rose on Thursday. Efforts to advance gun control measures have raised gun stock prices following other mass shootings, as investors predicted that gun purchases would rise ahead of stricter regulations.
Following the Texas shooting, Biden urged the country to take on the powerful pro-gun lobby that supports politicians who oppose such legislation.
The Senate is divided, with 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans, and a law must have 60 votes to overcome a maneuver known as the filibuster, which means any law would need rare bipartisan support.
“The only room in America where you can’t find more than 60 percent support for universal background checks is on the floor of the United States Senate,” said Christian Heyne, Brady’s vice president of politics. an armed violence prevention group.
As Biden and Congress explore compromises, the Supreme Court must decide an important case that could undermine new efforts to enact arms control measures while making existing ones vulnerable to legal attacks. Read more
Biden said he received a handwritten note from a grandmother who had lost her granddaughter to Uvalde, saying, “Erase the invisible line that divides our nation. Find a solution and fix what is broken and make the necessary changes to to prevent this from happening again “.
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Report by Steve Holland and Jeff Mason; additional reports by Alexandra Alper and Andrea Shalal; Editing by Heather Timmons, Mary Milliken, Leslie Adler and Michael Perry
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