The President of the United States, Joe Biden, called this Thursday in an address to the nation that assault weapons and high-capacity chargers be banned.
“We need to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. And if we can’t ban assault weapons, we should raise the age to buy them from 18 to 21,” Biden said in a prime-time speech and when The country is still traumatized by the massacre that occurred on May 24 at the Uvalde (Texas) school, in which 19 children and two teachers were murdered.
In a nearly 20-minute speech in which he repeated over and over: “Enough is enough,” Biden launched a series of calls for lawmakers to take concrete steps to control guns in the country, after the recent shootings of Uvalde, Buffalo (New York) and Tulsa (Oklahoma).
Specifically, he requested that the background check of potential buyers be strengthened, that the law be applied to guarantee the safe storage of weapons and that the immunity that protects weapons manufacturers be repealed.
“How many more carnage are we willing to accept? How many more innocent American lives must be taken before we say enough is enough?” he stressed in a speech that, at times, became emotional.
According to Biden, the survivors of the massacres have a message for politicians: “Do something, just do something, for God’s sake, do something, because after Columbine, after Sandy Hook, after Charleston, after Orlando, after Las Vegas (…) nothing has been done,” Biden said, referring to the main massacres that have hit the country in recent years.
Standing at the end of a red carpet and an aisle made up of 56 candles lit to represent the shooting victims of America’s states and territories, Biden insisted that the second amendment to the US constitution, on the right to possess weapons, “like all other rights, it is not absolute”.
“This is not about taking away anyone’s rights. This is about protecting children, about protecting families. This is about protecting entire communities. This is about protecting our freedom to go to school, to go to a grocery store , to a church” without being shot to death, Biden said.
His speech coincides with the talks in which a group of nine Republican senators and Democrats have been participating since last week to try to agree on firearms control measures that can receive the support of legislators from both parties.
The measures would be far more modest than the assault weapons ban advocated by most Democrats, including Biden, and would focus on beefing up school safety and funding mental health programs, both of which are Republican requirements.
They would also seek to expand background checks to purchase firearms and give states incentives to pass laws that allow authorities to seize weapons from individuals deemed dangerous.
Precisely this Thursday, the Judicial Committee of the House of Representatives -the Lower House of Congress- is debating a series of arms control measures, collected under the title of Act for the Protection of Our Children.
The measures seek to introduce a 10-round limitation per magazine, raise the minimum age to buy a semi-automatic rifle from 18 to 21, and give states incentives to pass gun confiscation laws.
They also seek to limit the use of “ghost weapons,” which can be bought in parts online and then assembled at home, making them untraceable as they have no serial number.
Debate over the measure has seen most House Republicans condemn any attempt to limit Americans’ ability to buy guns, often repeating the typical conservative message that “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is He’s a good guy with a gun.”
The entire House of Representatives, where Democrats hold the majority, is scheduled to debate this package of measures next week.
New York state lawmakers on Thursday approved new legislation raising the minimum age to buy semi-automatic weapons from 18 to 21 as part of a package to increase gun control.
“Our nation-leading gun legal package just passed both houses. New York is taking swift action to strengthen safety alert laws, close loopholes, and protect communities,” she wrote in a brief message. Governor Kathy Hochul, who will have to sign the law for it to go into effect.
The new law also prohibits the sale of ammunition that passes through bulletproof vests and revises what is known as the “red flag” law, to identify those people who may eventually cause harm to themselves or others if they are in possession of a weapon.
In this way, New York becomes the first state in the country to restrict the purchase of weapons after the Uvalde shooting and the recent massacres in Buffalo (New York) and Tulsa (Oklahoma).
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