In a fervent plea for stricter gun control laws, US President Joe Biden asked “How much more genocide are we willing to accept?” In the last two weeks, 35 people died after three consecutive shootings.
Speaking from the White House, Biden urged Congress to ban assault weapons, implement stricter background checks, and raise the minimum purchase age from 18 to 21. He called the Republican protest “unconscionable.”
“For God’s sake, how much more genocide are we willing to accept, enough, enough! We can’t fail the American people again,” Biden said in a televised address Thursday.
His appeal came in the wake of three high-profile mass shootings. Four people died on Wednesday Gunman opened fire inside a medical facility in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Last week, 18-year-old shooter killed 19 students and two teachers At an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
Earlier, livestreaming a white 18-year-old dressed in military gear and with a helmet camera opened fire at a supermarket in a predominantly black neighborhood in New York, killing 10 people and injuring three others, which officials said. described. “Racially Inspired Violent Extremism.”
Despite having a higher rate of gun deaths than any other wealthy nation, introducing any new reform measures in the US faces enormous obstacles from Republicans, especially the Senate, and weapons of assault. There is not enough support to move forward with the ban.
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Biden called on the country to take on a powerful pro-gun lobby that supports politicians who oppose such legislation. “My god, the fact that the majority of Senate Republicans don’t want any of these proposals to be debated or put up for vote, seems unconscionable to me,” he said.
Tonight, I’m addressing the nation on the tragic incidents of recent mass shootings, and the need for Congress to pass commonsense legislation to combat the epidemic of gun violence. https://t.co/qkMEGKhsqH
— President Biden (@POTUS) 2 June 2022
“We must reinstate the ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines that we passed in 1994. In the 10 years it was the law, mass shootings decreased. In 2004 Republicans allowed the law to expire and those weapons were allowed to resell, mass shootings tripled,” Biden reported.
The US president stressed that the push for stricter gun control legislation was not about taking away people’s rights (the Second Amendment to the US Constitution gives Americans the right to own and possess arms) but rather to protect children, families and communities. And it’s about making sure people don’t do that. Don’t get shot and killed while going about your daily business.
“It’s not about snatching anyone’s guns. We believe that we should treat responsible gun owners as an example of how every gun owner should behave,” he said.
Biden also called for action to address mental health, including more school counselors and other mental health services for students and teachers, as CNBC reports.
A broad majority of American voters, both Republican and Democrat, support strong gun control laws, but Republicans in Congress and some moderate Democrats have blocked such legislation for years.
A committee in the US House of Representatives on Thursday was working on a bill aimed at toughening national gun laws, though the measure has little chance of passing the Senate, which is split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans. .
(with inputs from AP, Reuters)