President Biden addressed the nation from the White House, promising to pressure Congress into passing new gun control measures.
Biden supports banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. The age to purchase assault weapons should be raised from 18 to 21. Background checks and safe storage laws need to be strengthened. Gun manufacturers have immunity that protects them from being sued. The mental health crisis needs to be addressed.
A bitterly divided Senate is struggling to reach a consensus on measures far more modest than the one Biden envisioned on Thursday night.
The president spoke earlier in the day and it had the feel of tragedy. Last month, Biden addressed the nation after a racist massacre in Buffalo, N.Y., took 10 lives, and later in May, after a shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
Are we willing to accept more carnage? The murder of 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde shocked a nation that had become used to gun violence.
The president said there have been 20 mass shootings since Uvalde. The United States has had more gun deaths this year than any other developed nation.
In naming some of the worst mass shootings in recent American history, Biden acknowledged that none of them had spurred congress to impose gun control measures.
He reassured Americans that he was not the anti-gun zealot they had been led to believe. I respect the culture and traditions of lawful gun owners. He reminded his audience that Antonin Scalia had once said that the Second Amendment was not an absolute right.
Biden helped craft the 1994 assault weapons ban, which has been shown to decrease gun violence. The ban ended in 2004.
Biden was vice president at the time of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. The bipartisan plan to expand background checks failed in the Senate.
Democrats have been hesitant to take action on gun control. Even as Republican-led states rush to loosen remaining restrictions on gun ownership, the killings in Buffalo, Uvalde and Tulsa seem to have awakened dormant convictions.
Efforts to forge a compromise on Capitol Hill are being led by Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., but those efforts pale in comparison with the agenda Biden envisioned on Thursday. Biden suggested that this time around, there could be backlash at the ballot box because of the measures he prescribed.
A majority of Americans will not give up if Congress fails, he said. The majority of you will act and make this issue a priority in your vote.
At one point, Biden used the stage whisper he is fond of using to convey the anger felt by so many Americans at the toll of gun violence.
He said enough. It's time forEnough!
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