Biden marks Uvalde anniversary with new call to ban assault weapons

Joe Biden has made a new call to ban AR-15 assault weapons, marking the one-year anniversary of the Uvalde mass shooting.

After a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in the Texas city last May, police were heavily criticized for their slow response in apprehending the shooter.

Mr. Biden, who was first lady Dr. for the speech. Jill Biden, said that at the scene of each mass shooting he attended, he was told the same thing by the families of the victims.

He said, “Everywhere you hear the same message ‘Do something, do something for God’.”

“We did something later but not nearly enough. In my view we still need to ban the AR-15 assault weapons once again, you know their repeated use in mass murders of innocent children and people has been used.

And Mr. Biden, who visited Uvalde after the shooting, called on politicians to do more to end the gun crisis in the United States.

“We cannot end this epidemic until Congress passes some common sense gun safety laws … How many more parents will be living their worst nightmare,” he said.

The president, who lost two children of his own, told the families he realized the anniversary represented a “really difficult day” for them.

“Remembering is important but it is also painful,” said the president, who was surrounded by a lit candle for each of the victims of the mass shooting.

“A year of missed birthdays, school plays and soccer games, just this smile. A year of everyday happiness gone forever.

A criminal investigation into the actions of the law enforcement response to the shooting is underway in Texas, where it is the worst school shooting in the state’s history.

A report by state lawmakers concluded that nearly 400 officers from federal, state and local agencies responded to the school but waited an hour for the heavily armed officers to confront and kill the 18-year-old gunman.

The report accused the Uvalde police of failing to “prioritize the saving of innocent lives over their own safety”.

Mr Biden has now made more than 70 unanswered calls for Congress to take action and ban assault weapons, which are commonly used in mass shootings across the country.

It is a demand he has made to lawmakers dozens of times since entering office in 2021. In his first two years in office, About 1,400 mass shootings.

He has referenced a federal ban on assault weapons, asked Congress to renew the ban on assault weapons or pledged that his Democratic colleagues will do so nearly 70 times since entering office, according to IndependentMarch 2023 review of his public statements and comments via Factba.se.