US President Joe Biden pledged on Monday to strengthen the regulation of firearms which constitute, he lamented, “the leading cause of death of children in the United States”.
“We live in a country flooded with weapons of war”said Joe Biden, speaking at a White House event to mark the passage of the most significant federal gun legislation in nearly three decades, the day following a series of shootings by masses who once once more plunged the country into mourning.
He called on Congress to do more to reduce gun violence. Last June, Biden signed the gun safety bill that Congress quickly passed in response to several recent massacres, including at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and another at a supermarket in New York.
A dozen other mass shootings have bloodied the U.S. National Day on July 4, including one at an Independence Day parade in Illinois where seven people lost their lives. Monday at the White House, Joe Biden was surrounded for the “commemoration of the historic achievement of the passage of the bipartisan Safer Communities Act”, of several survivors and family members of victims of mass shootings that have rocked the United States since 1999.
Among them are survivors of the Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, Tucson, Sandy Hook, Parkland, Santa Fe, Uvalde, Buffalo and Highland Park massacres – “as well as survivors and family members of daily acts of gun violence that do not make national headlines,” noted the White House. In his address, the US president called for stronger gun regulation with expanded background checks and safe storage laws that would demand personal accountability for those who do not store their firearms safely.
Biden referred to the extensive training, background checks and mental health assessments to handle these weapons.
“With rights come responsibilities. Yes, there is the right to bear arms. But we also have the right to live freely without fearing for our lives.“, he insisted in reaction to the many supporters of the protection of the right to bear arms enshrined in the American constitution. And to add that “the right to bear arms is not an absolute right which dominates all the others”.
The US president recently signed the first major federal gun safety law passed in decades in the United States, marking a significant bipartisan advance on one of the most contentious political issues in Washington.
This law provides for stronger background checks for firearm buyers between the ages of 18 and 21, establishes a federal offense for people who obtain firearms through indirect purchases or trafficking, and clarifies the definition of a federally licensed firearms dealer. The bill also provides $750 million to help states enforce so-called “Red Flag” laws, which aim to keep guns away from people considered a threat to themselves or others. others, as well as other prevention programs. The measure also provides funding for mental health treatment.
