US prez appeals lawmakers to pass tougher gun control laws
Joe Biden said that lawmakers should consider raising the age at which assault weapons can be bought from 18 to 21
WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden on Thursday made a fervent appeal for lawmakers to pass tougher gun control laws, including a ban on assault weapons, to curb a scourge of mass shootings turning American communities into “killing fields.”
Biden made the 17-minute address - his latest call for tougher firearms measures with 56 lighted candles arrayed along a long corridor behind him, representing US states and territories suffering from gun violence.
“How much more carnage are we willing to accept?” the president asked in the speech, which he delivered with anger in his voice, and at times dipping close to a whisper.
“We can’t fail the American people again,” he said, condemning the refusal of a majority of Republican senators to support tougher laws as “unconscionable”.
At a minimum, Biden said, lawmakers should raise the age at which assault weapons can be purchased from 18 to 21.
He also urged them to take steps including strengthening background checks, banning high-capacity magazines, mandating safe storage of firearms, and allowing gun manufacturers to be held liable for crimes committed with their products.
“Over the last two decades, more school-age children have died from guns than on-duty police officers and active duty military combined. Think about that,” Biden said.
He highlighted the story of a young student who smeared a dead classmate’s blood on herself to hide from a gunman at a Texas elementary school, saying: “Imagine what it would be like for her to walk down the hallway of any school again.”
“There are too many other schools, too many other everyday places that have become killing fields, battlefields here in America,” Biden said.
While Republican lawmakers have largely resisted tougher gun laws, a cross-party group of US senators held talks on Thursday on a package of firearms controls.
NY bill raises age to own semi-automatic rifles
New York’s legislature voted on Thursday to ban anyone under age 21 from buying or possessing a semi-automatic rifle, a major change to state firearm laws pushed through less than three weeks after an 18-year-old used one of the guns to kill 10 people at a supermarket in Buffalo.
The bill raising the age limit is the most significant part of a package of gun control measures announced earlier this week by Democratic legislative leaders and Gov Kathy Hochul.
Other new legislation will restrict civilian purchases of bullet-resistant armour, which was worn by the killer in Buffalo,
and require new guns to be equipped with microstamping technology that can help law enforcement investigators trace bullets to particular firearms.
The age limit bill passed the Senate along party lines, 43-20, and in the Assembly 102-47, and will now head to Hochul’s desk for her signature.
New York already requires people to be 21 to possess a handgun.
New York would join a handful of states - including Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Vermont and Washington - that require buyers to be at least 21 instead of 18 to purchase some types of long guns.
Similar legislation has been proposed in Utah.