United States President Joe Biden on Thursday urged legislators to ban assault weapons or at least raise the minimum age to buy them.
He made the appeal for tougher gun control laws nine days after a gunman in Texas shot dead 19 children and two adults at a school.
“If we can’t ban assault weapons, as we should, we must at least raise the age to be able to purchase one to 21,” Biden said. He noted that in Texas, a person can buy an assault weapon at 18 years of age but cannot purchase a pistol till 21 years.
The president said that US lawmakers cannot fail citizens again. He said that it was unconscionable that a majority of Republicans in the Senate did not even want debate or vote on proposals for tightening gun ownership laws.
Biden said that in the past two decades, more school-aged children had died from guns than on-duty police officers and active duty military personnel combined.
“For God’s sake, how much more carnage are we willing to accept?” he asked.
The United States Senate currently has 50 Democrat and Republican Senators each. Most Bills need 60 votes to pass, which makes it difficult for divisive laws to be cleared, according to AFP.
Biden, in his address on Thursday, also called for laws to strengthen background checks, to ensure the safe storage of weapons and repeal immunity from liability for gun manufacturers. He also called for addressing “the mental health crisis deepening the trauma of gun violence and as a consequence of that violence”.
The president said that legislators should reinstate a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines that was passed in 1994 with bipartisan support.
“...In the 10 years it was law, mass shootings went down,” he said. “But after Republicans let the law expire in 2004 and those weapons were allowed to be sold again, mass shootings tripled.”
On May 28, former United States President Donald Trump and other Republican leaders had criticised those calling for tightening gun control laws at a convention of the National Rifle Association, a gun rights advocacy group.
Trump had suggested that schools should have a single entry point with armed guards on vigil, and should have exit-only fire escapes, according to CNN. He had also suggested allowing some teachers to carry firearms.
“The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” Trump had said.
The attack at the Robb Elementary School in Texas’ Uvalde city was carried out by 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, who was eventually killed by responding officers. Ramos had shot his grandmother before attacking the school.
The attack was one of the deadliest shootings at an American school since a gunman killed 26 citizens, including 20 children, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in 2012.
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