Biden Says He ‘Won’t Stop’ until ‘Assault Weapons’ Are Banned
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
President Joe Biden delivered remarks Monday about the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, casting the recently passed bill as a mere starting point on the way to advancing Democrats’ broader gun-control agenda.
“The legislation is real progress but more has to be done,” Biden said while giving a speech to survivors and victims of mass shootings, as well as the lawmakers who helped pass the bill, in front of the White House.
The bill, sponsored by Democratic Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy and Republican Texas Senator John Cornyn, passed the Senate late last month by a vote of 65-33 and by 234-193 in the House. It was swiftly signed into law by the president.
The legislation provides roughly $13 billion dollars for expanding access to mental-health services and school safety and imposes a stricter background check review process, including checking the mental health history of minors under 21 seeking to purchase a gun.
It also narrows the “boyfriend loophole” by banning individuals convicted of domestic violence while in a relationship from purchasing a firearm for at least five years, provides $750 million for crisis intervention and red flag laws, and makes trafficking guns a federal crime.
The bill came in response to the fatal mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York, last month.
Biden also pledged to ban so-called assault weapons in his speech.
“I’m determined to ban these weapons again and high capacity magazines that hold 30 rounds that let mass shooters fire hundreds of bullets in a matter of minutes,” Biden said, adding he “won’t stop” until they’re banned.
House Democrats passed a package of bills called the “Protecting Our Kids Act” in June in a vote of 223-204. The series of bills, if passed through the Senate, would include raising the age to buy semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21, prohibiting large-capacity ammunition feeding devices, requiring the safe storage of firearms and banning “ghost” guns.
