Biden presses for more gun control after mass shootings: ‘How much more carnage
In remarks from a candle-lined Cross Hall at the White House, Biden recalled his visits to the memorials of recent mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York. Fifty-six candles burned behind him to represent victims of gun violence in all US states and territories.
“Standing there in that small town like so many other communities across America, I couldn’t help but think there are too many other schools, too many other everyday places, that have become killing fields — battlefields — here in America,” Biden said of his visit to Uvalde.
The remarks amount to Biden’s most fulsome speech about guns since a massacre at a Texas elementary school last week.
He said the recent spate of horrific mass shootings must impel the nation to take action to prevent further massacres by passing gun restrictions.
After meeting families mourning their slain loved ones in Buffalo and Uvalde, Biden said the message from them was clear: “Do something.”
“Nothing has been done,” Biden said. “This time that can’t be true. This time we must actually do something.”
He issued a call to reinstate a ban on assault weapons that he said had helped prevent horrific murders but expired in 2004.
‘We should reinstate the assault weapons ban,” Biden said, seeking a new prohibition on the types of high-capacity weapons used in the Uvalde and Buffalo shootings.
Biden said that in the 10 years the law was in place, mass shootings decreased.
“After Republicans let the law expire in 2004, those weapons were allowed to be sold again. Mass shootings tripled,” the President said.
He said the weapons inflicted gruesome damage on their victims, particularly children, and he used very vivid language to describe the shootings and their aftermath.
“The damage is so devastating, and in Uvalde, parents had to do DNA swabs to identify the remains of their children, 9 and 10 years old,” he said.
In the little more than a week since the Uvalde shooting, a string of additional mass shootings have unfolded in states across the country, including in Tulsa on Wednesday. That shooting left five dead, including the gunman.
It’s the second time that Biden has delivered an emotional evening speech at the White House on mass shootings, also speaking in the wake of the Robb Elementary School assault. Since then, however, Biden has only selectively waded into the debate over gun control, stopping short of endorsing any specific legislative action to prevent further carnage.
However, he broke with that trend on Thursday. Biden said the age to purchase assault weapons must be raised from 18 to 21 if lawmakers cannot agree on an outright ban on those firearms.
“We must at least raise the age to be able to purchase one to 21,” the President said.
He said he was cognizant of criticism that some 18- to 21-year-olds serve in the military and handle those weapons as part of their duties, noting those individuals receive “training and supervision by the best-trained experts in the world.”
“Don’t tell me raising the age won’t make a difference,” Biden said.
He added, “For the children we’ve lost, the children we can save, for the nation we love, let’s hear the call and the cry. Let’s meet the moment. Let us finally…
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