“Enough, enough,” US President Joe Biden exclaimed again and again on Thursday night as he delivered a passionate address to the nation, urging the US Congress to take action against gun violence following mass shootings that he said have turned schools and other daily places in the “killing fields”.
If lawmakers fail to act, he warned, voters must use their “outrage” to make it a central issue in the November by-elections.
Speaking in the White House, Biden acknowledged the fierce political cross-winds as he sought to increase pressure on Congress to adopt tougher gun restrictions after such efforts failed after past attacks.
He reiterated calls for a reinstatement in the ban on the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines – and said that if Congress did not accept all his proposals, it should at least find compromises such as keeping firearms from people with mental health problems or raising at the age of buying weapons in the style of attack from 18 to 21.
“How many more carnage are we ready to accept,” Biden said after last week’s shooting of an 18-year-old gunman who killed 19 students and two teachers at a primary school in Uwalde, Texas, and another attack in Tulsa on Wednesday. , Oklahoma, where a gunman shot four people and himself in a medical office.
The most recent shootings came after the May 14 attack in Buffalo, New York, where a white 18-year-old man dressed in military equipment and broadcasting live with a helmet camera opened fire with a rifle at a supermarket in a predominantly black neighborhood, killing 10 souls and wounded three others in what authorities described as “racially motivated violent extremism.”
WATCH Emotional call to action against gun violence:
‘What are we doing?’ The US senator asks after the shooting at a school in Texas
Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, whose state suffered a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School a decade ago, called on his Senate colleagues on Tuesday after 14 other children were killed in a shooting at a school in Uwalde, Texas. He asked politicians why they were in the Senate at all if they did not want to work to solve what he called an “existential” problem.
“This time we need to take the time to do something,” Biden said, calling on the U.S. Senate, which will need 10 Republican votes to pass legislation.
Despite all the passion of Biden’s address and all his big demands and smaller alternatives, any major action by Congress is still a long way off.
“I know how difficult it is, but I will never give up, and if Congress fails, I believe that this time the majority of the American people will not give up either,” he added. “I believe that most of you will take action to turn your outrage into making this issue central to your vote.”
Adding a clear perspective to the deaths of young people, he noted that data from the US Centers for Disease Control showed that “guns are the number one killer of children in the United States” before car crashes.
“In the last two decades, more school-age children have died at gunpoint than police officers and active-duty soldiers combined,” he said.
“It’s about child protection”
Aware of persistent criticism from gun rights advocates, Biden insisted that his call was not for “blackmailing gun owners” or “confiscating one’s weapons.”
“We need to treat responsible gun owners as an example of how every gun owner should behave,” Biden said. “It’s not about taking away someone’s rights, it’s about protecting children, protecting families.”
He called on Congress to end “outrageous” protections for arms manufacturers, who severely limit their responsibility for how their firearms are used, comparing it to the tobacco industry, which faces multiple lawsuits over the role of its products in causing of cancer and other diseases.
“Imagine if the tobacco industry was immune to a lawsuit where we would be today,” Biden said.
All major television networks broke away from regular programming to broadcast Biden’s remarks at 7:30 p.m., before prime time began.
Biden has used national speeches in the past to talk about the coronavirus pandemic and the chaotic withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan. But the president has used such addresses sparingly during his nearly 18-month term, especially in the evenings.
Earlier Thursday, US Vice President Kamala Harris spoke of the Oklahoma shooting, saying: “We all hold the people of Tulsa in our hearts, but we also reaffirm our commitment to pass healthy gun safety laws.”
“There are no more excuses. Thoughts and prayers are important, but they are not enough,” Harris said. “Congress must act.
The mourners attended a vigil at the Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York, on May 15, a day after 10 people were killed in a mass shooting at a store. (Brendan McDermid / Reuters)
Requirements for action
Visiting Uwalde on Sunday, Biden mourned in private for more than three hours with suffering families. Faced with the chanting of “do something” as he left the church service, the president promised, “We will do it.” In his address, he spoke of a note handed down by a woman in a church in Uwalde, mourning the loss of her grandson, urging people to come together and act.
His address on Thursday night coincided with bipartisan talks intensifying among a core group of senators discussing modest changes in weapons policy. Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said the group was “making rapid progress” and Biden spoke with Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, among those leading his party’s efforts.
WATCH Biden mourns in Uwalde:
Biden visits Uwalde, Texas to mourn the community
US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden have mourned families affected by a mass shooting at a Texas primary school that has killed 19 students and two teachers.
Democrats hope Biden’s remarks will encourage bipartisan Senate talks and increase pressure on Republicans to reach an agreement. White House spokeswoman Karin Jean-Pierre said Biden was “encouraged” by the talks in Congress, but the president wanted to give lawmakers “a little space” to keep talking.
Private debates in the U.S. Senate, which is split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, are not expected to lead to the kinds of large-scale reforms being considered by the Democratic-led House of Representatives – which approved extensive legislation to review the past and beyond. will turn to a ban on assault weapons.
But even a package from the House of Representatives, discussed Thursday – and approved by committee, 25-19 years old – which is less extensive but includes a provision to raise the age required to buy semi-automatic firearms to 21, faces small chances in the Senate.
Instead, bipartisan senators are likely to come up with a growing package that will increase federal funding to support the state’s arms security efforts – with incentives to strengthen school security and mental health resources. The package could also encourage “red flag laws” to keep firearms away from those that could cause harm.
Every big action is still long. While the Senate approved a modest measure to promote compliance with inspections after a mass shooting at a church in 2017 in Texas and one in Parkland, Florida, next year, no major legislation cleared the room after the devastating massacre of 20 children at Sandy Elementary School Hook School in 2012
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