WASHINGTON / WWALDE, Texas, May 30 (Reuters) – A day after promising residents of Uwalde, Texas, action to tackle gun violence, US President Joe Biden on Monday sought to appeal to “rational” Republicans to limit powerful weapons and take other federal action to prevent mass shootings.
“Things have gotten so bad that everyone is becoming more rational about it,” Biden said as he returned from a weekend trip to commemorate 19 children and two teachers killed last Tuesday in the worst mass shooting at a school in the country for a decade.
“The idea of these high-caliber weapons – there is simply no rational basis for this in terms of self-defense, hunting,” Biden told reporters at the White House.
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The United States has witnessed hundreds of deaths from dozens of mass shootings in recent years, and a similar debate in Washington over how to reduce them has not led to congressional action, although polls show most Americans support at least moderate gun ownership. Biden’s fellow Democrats are open to new gun restrictions, while Republicans have a broad vision of gun rights.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, has repeatedly said after Uwalde that gun regulations are not the answer and instead point to mental health problems.
Questions remain almost a week after an 18-year-old shot his grandmother before heading to Rob’s primary school in South Texas, armed with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, killing 21 people and injuring at least 17 others.
Local police waited nearly an hour, although children continued to call 911 for help before a U.S. border patrol tactical team stormed in and killed the shooter.
The US Department of Justice said on Sunday it would review law enforcement responses ordered by Mayor Uwalde. Some Texas Democrats also want a separate FBI investigation.
“We deserve better police … We want answers,” said Jessica Morales, 30, who was born and raised in Uwalde but now lives in Houston, in front of her parents’ home near the school.
The official version of events and the reaction of the police to the shooting on May 24 have changed significantly in the last week.
But in a statement Monday, Uwalde Mayor Don McLaughlin described “false” comments made by Texas Vice Governor Dan Patrick at Fox & Friends Weekend on Saturday that government officials had not been “told the truth” about the time to stop the shooter. The mayor did not respond to comments made by Governor Greg Abbott during a press conference that he had been misled.
Police removed school barricades Monday, allowing public access to a makeshift memorial to a makeshift memorial with dozens of teddy bears and hundreds of bouquets fading in the heat of Texas.
Grieving, they gathered in front of life-size photos of the killed children and teachers. Some wept softly, while others lit candles or took pictures.
The first of 21 funerals in Uwalde is scheduled for this week.
Residents of the devastated city called on Biden to “do something” about gun violence as he visited on Sunday to meet with families and first aid workers.
“We will,” Biden said. Read more
Little has changed since 1999, when two teenage students fatally shot dead 13 people at Columbine High School in Colorado. Since then, mass school shootings have rocked Virginia Technical University, Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut and Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, among others.
Last year, the United States faced 61 “active shooter” incidents in schools and elsewhere, according to FBI data. Earlier this month, 10 people were killed in a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.
Biden has supported a number of actions, including a new ban on assault weapons and universal inspections. But the president, whose fellow Democrats only closely control Congress, cited the limits of executive action and called on lawmakers to act.
Democrats need the support of 10 Republican senators to pass a law.
Talks between Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Republican Sen. John Cornin of Texas are expected to continue this week. Biden said Monday that Cornin and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell are “rational” conservatives.
However, Congress is on vacation until June 6, which increases the risk of inertia fading. However, lawmakers could unite around some ideas, such as so-called red flag laws or raising the minimum age for buying weapons from 18 to 21.
While school shootings are shocking, gun violence in the United States occurs regularly. Over the weekend, six people were shot and injured in Chattanooga, Tennessee, while at least one person was killed and several were injured in a shooting at an open-air festival in Taft, Oklahoma, southeast of Tulsa, local media reported.
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Report by Steve Holland in Washington and Brad Brooks in Uwalde, Texas; Additional reports by Maria Caspani in New York and Rich McKay in Atlanta; Writing by Susan Heavy; Edited by Scott Malone, Donna Bryson, Andrea Ritchie and Leslie Adler
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