After a series of mass shootings in the United States, Biden pushed for a re-ban on assault weapons

After a series of mass shooting tragedies in the United States, Biden pushed for a re-ban on assault weapons

WASHINGTON —As Californians faced two mass fatal shootings in quick succession, President Joe Biden announced support for gun control measures, including reinstating the assault weapons ban he championed as a senator in 1994.

“While we are still waiting to learn more details about these shootings, we know that the gun violence that is raging across the United States calls for stronger action,” President Biden said in a statement Tuesday (Jan. 24) after the shooting on Monday (Jan. 23), Calif., said in a statement. I reiterate my call on both houses of Congress to act quickly to bring this assault weapons ban to my desk and to take action to keep American communities, schools, workplaces, and homes safe. Just

two days before the Half Moon Bay shooting in California, a gunman killed at least 11 people at a dance hall in the city of Monterey Park, Calif., as the city’s Asian-American community celebrated Lunar New Year weekend.

Cordoned off near the scene of the shooting in Half Moon Bay, California. (24 January 2023)

On Monday, Democratic U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein of California and two Democratic U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy of Connecticut introduced a bill to restore a federal law banning assault weapons. and introduced a bill to raise the minimum age for the purchase of assault weapons to 21. That assault weapons ban expired in 2004.

“The steady stream of shootings has one thing in common: They’re almost all related to assault weapons. That’s because these weapons are designed to kill as many people as possible as quickly as possible,” Feinstein said. “It’s time for us to stand up to the gun lobby and get these weapons of war off our streets, or at least not let them fall into the hands of young people.”

The Senate’s weapons ban proposal has been opposed by Republicans and gun rights activists. The proposal would prevent the sale, manufacture, transfer, and import of 205 specifically listed weapons that have the characteristics of military firearms and would also ban magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds.

Democratic Representative David Cicilline will launch a House version. The bill must be passed by both houses before it can be handed over to Biden’s desk to be signed into law.

Because Republicans control the House, the bill has little chance of passing. The New York Times reported that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican of California, told reporters Tuesday that he would not consider any new gun bills until he knew more about the two shootings. Polls show Republican voters oppose restrictions on the right to bear arms, which is protected by the Second Amendment.

Jonathan Metzl, a sociologist at Vanderbilt University who focuses on gun policy, said that with the conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court overturning a gun safety law in New York State last June, other states are likely to find their gun restrictions threatened.

“Nothing actually happens, we first have to deal not only with day-to-day gun legislation,—— that’s important,” Metz told the media. “But actually, the Supreme Court is currently undermining the gun safety campaign, and it’s actually going on in a catastrophic way.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the administration is considering more executive measures to address the issue of reducing gun violence.

“But we believe Congress needs to act.” She told reporters Tuesday.

In the United States, the number of fatal gun violence so far this year is higher than in the same period in any year on record. In the first three weeks of 2023, there were about 40 mass shootings across the United States. A mass gun incident is defined as an incident in which at least four victims were shot.

Last June, Biden signed into law a gun safety bill with bipartisan support. More than a month earlier, a shooting at an elementary school in Texas killed 19 children and two adults, and a mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y., killed 10 black people.

That bill was the first major gun safety regulation passed by Congress in nearly 30 years. The bill includes strengthening background checks for gun buyers between the ages of 18 and 21 and providing incentives for states to pass so-called red flag warning laws, which include that groups can go to court to remove a person’s weapon if they are deemed a threat to themselves and others.