After a new mass shooting in Texas, United States, the president Joe Biden issued a statement asking Congress for a bill to ban free sale of assault rifles and high-capacity chargers, in addition to requesting background checks.
Last Saturday, the state of Texas experienced another tragic episode with the death of eight people at the hands of a shooter -who was later shot down- in a shopping center. This situation once again aroused the alert of Biden, President of the United States, who had previously expressed his concern about the few requirements that exist in the country to acquire weapons.
“What has our nation come to when children cannot attend a birthday party without fear, when parents have to worry every time their children walk out the school door, to the movies or to the park?” .
Along these lines, the president then asked Congress for a bill to regulate arms sales and ban assault rifles. “One more time, I ask Congress to send me a bill banning assault weapons and high capacity chargers. Enact universal background checks. That requires secure storage. End immunity for gun manufacturers. I will enact it immediately“, he maintained. He also assured that “Americans agree and want lawmakers to act on common-sense gun safety reforms.”
For his part, Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, referred to the problem and opined that “people want a quick solution, the long-term solution is to address the problem of mental health”. 199 mass shootings were recorded over the five months that elapsed in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive records.
Biden’s insistence
Last month, Biden signed an executive order to toughen gun sales in the country, with the main task of increasing background checks. “Every few days in the United States, we mourn a new shooting. We cannot accept these facts as an enduring reality in the life of the country,” he said then.
In this way, he added that “it is common sense to check if someone has a criminal or domestic abuse record before they are sold a firearm.”
In turn, the White House reported that “the president is asking the attorney general to bring the United States as close as possible to a universal background check without the need for special legislation.”
