After another shooting in the United States, Joe Biden announced a limited plan against the “epidemic” of gun violence

The president of the United States, Joe Biden, denounced this Thursday that his country suffers from an “epidemic” of violence caused by firearms, during a ceremony during which he announced limited measures to try to control a problem that no president has been able to stop so far. The announcement coincided with a new shooting that took place this Thursday in Texas that left one dead and four injured.

The president, who has always advocated for better control of the possession of weapons, received pressure from his Democratic Party to act after recent shootings in Colorado and Georgia, now joined by the incident in Texas on Thursday.

“It’s an epidemic, for screaming out loud, and it has to stop“Said the Democratic President at the White House, also referring to the shootings as a “public health crisis”.

Without a likely agreement in Congress to pass comprehensive reform, such as requiring a baseline report for buyers, Biden announced six executive orders in an attempt to resolve the issue.

Biden presented a limited plan for prevent the spread of so-called “ghost weapons” – handcrafted, sometimes with 3D printers – which are impossible to trace when used in a crime.

He also proposed increase regulation of arm mounts designed to stabilize the weapon, a device used by the suspect in the Colorado shooting that killed 10 people.

“Enough prayers,” he said of a problem that is causing nearly 40,000 deaths each year in the country. “The time for action has come”, assured the president that he qualified the situation of “international disgrace”.

The president pledged to support the agencies involved in the fight against this type of violence and ordered a comprehensive report on the problem, a review that has not been carried out since 2000.

Ban assault rifles

Biden admitted that the gun debate is somewhat difficult in the United States, but assured that there is more common ground than you might think.

The President indicated that His proposals are just a starting point, and he called on Congress to legislate to put in place measures such as background checks and ending the sale of assault rifles. which are often the weapon used in mass shootings.

“We should ban assault rifles and high capacity magazines”, he claimed.

Democrat declares supporter of stricter background checks for gun buyers and a ban on military-type rifles, like the AR-15.

But the two ideas face one strong resistance to Congress, where the weak Democratic majorities in both chambers make it difficult to deal with initiatives on this sensitive issue in the United States

The AR-15, a semi-automatic resembling the iconic M16 military rifle, has been the weapon of choice in several massacres. At the same time, the musket It is extremely popular with sports shooters and legal firearms enthusiasts, symbolizing the ideological division of the country.

In 1994, as a senator, Biden supported a ban on assault rifles. The law expired a decade later and has never been renewed, with Republicans lining up in more rigid positions in the face of what they describe as an attack on the constitutional right to bear arms.

Meanwhile, Thursday’s announcements were not well received by Republicans. Alabama lawmaker Robert Aderholt said the actions Biden announced are aimed at “appeasing the radical left and undermining the right to bear arms enshrined in the Second Amendment.”

“They want to take your weapons away from you”, added another Republican congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio.

In addition to the measures announced, Biden used his speech at the White House Rose Garden to name David Chipman, a gun control advocate, as head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), ua key agency in the fight against armed violence.

Reflecting the lack of political unity around gun restrictions, the ATF has not had a Senate confirmed director since 2015.

With information from AFP

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