In the wake of multiple mass shooting over the past few weeks — most notably a massacre in Uvalde, Texas that took the lives of 19 elementary school children — President Joe Biden gave a passionate speech on Thursday night.
A desperate speech, one might even say.
Speaking from the White House Cross Hall, where lines of candles had been lit as a backdrop, the Commander-in-Chief did he best to increase pressure on Congress to act … after previous shootings failed to produce any meaningful new legislation.
“How much more carnage are we willing to accept?” Biden asked, singling out Republicans to end their blockade of gun control votes.
Over the past month alone, a gunman has opened up fire inside of a supermarket in Buffalo… a gunman has opened up fire inside of a school in Texas… andd a gunman has opened up fire inside of a hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
In each case, the shooter used an AR-15 to commit these numerous homicides.
President Biden would like to see a ban on assault weapons put into place nationwide; or, at the very least, for the minimum age to be raised to 21 in order for someone to purchase one of these weapons.
In addition to his assault weapon plea, Biden asked Congress to expand background check requirements for gun purchases… create new rules for safely storing weapons… and enact new “red flag” laws that would prevent gun sales to those with criminal records.
He also wants to see them repeal liability shields for gun manufacturers and provide more mental health services for students.
All 50 Democrats in the Senate would very likely approve nearly all of these measures.
But the GOP?
“My God, the fact that the majority of the Senate Republicans don’t want any of these proposals even to be debated or come up for a vote, I find unconscionable,” Biden said in his remarks.
“We can’t fail the American people again,” he added.
The President previously met with families mourning their murdered loved ones in Buffalo and Uvalde, telling his audience last night that they all had one message in common for Congress:
“Do something.”
According to various reports, over 311,000 students have experiencedd gun violence at school since the mass killing in Columbine, Colorado in 1999.
Not a single new measure has been put in place since to try and prevent these types of tragedies from occurring.
“Nothing has been done,” Biden said this week. “This time that can’t be true. This time we must actually do something.”Â
He later emphasized:
“For the children we’ve lost, the children we can save, for the nation we love, let’s hear the call and the cry. Let’s meet the moment. Let us finally do something.”
