President Joe Biden delivered an address on Thursday evening in the wake of a string of recent mass shootings nationwide, saying the United States must listen to the victims’ families and take action on the issue of gun violence.
A symbolic 56 candles lined the hallway as Biden walked to the podium in the East Room of the White House, representing all 50 states and six territories that have felt the scourge of gun violence.
“My fellow Americans: enough,” Biden said. “It's time for each of us to do our part. We need to act. For the children we’ve lost. For 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.”
In the past several weeks, Biden has visited the site of two mass shootings in New York and Texas, spending hours mourning the victims with family and community members. Just this week, there have been shootings with numerous casualties in Wisconsin and Oklahoma.
Biden on Thursday recalled visiting the small Texas town of Uvalde earlier this week, where he and the first lady visited the 21 white crosses erected for the 19 children and two adults killed when a shooter opened fire at Robb Elementary School.
“Standing there in that small town, like so many other communities across America, I couldn't help but think: there are too many other schools, too many other everyday places that have become killing fields, battlefields here in America,” Biden said.
Since January, there have been 12 shootings where four or more people have been killed, according to The Associated Press/USA TODAY/Northeastern University mass killing database. Those shootings have left 76 dead, including 31 adults and children in Buffalo and Texas, the database says. The death toll does not include the suspects in the shootings.
“For God's sake, how much more carnage are we willing to accept?” Biden asked, echoing a speech he gave in the hours after the shooting in Uvalde. “How many more innocent American lives must be taken before we say enough?”
Biden called on Congress to get legislation to his desk, delineating what he would like to see in a final bill.
Among his requests is a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines like those used in the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and others.
“We need to ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines,” the president said. “And if we can’t ban assault weapons, then we should raise the age to purchase them from 18 to 21, strengthen the background checks.”
The president also called for safe-storage and red flag laws, as well as to eliminate loopholes that protect “gun manufacturers from liability.”
“Why in God's name should an ordinary citizen be able to purchase an assault weapon that holds 30-round magazines that let mass shooters fire hundreds of bullets in a matter of minutes?” Biden asked.
The president commended a series of measures that passed the House in 2021 that would require background checks on all firearms sales and transfers and to allow an expanded 10-day review for gun purchases. Similar bills were passed by the House in 2019, shortly after Democrats won the majority, but languished in the GOP-controlled Senate for the next two years.
“The question now is what will the Congress do?” Biden asked, adding: “This time, we have to take the time to do something. This time, it’s time for the Senate to do something.”
As Biden delivered his address, the House Judiciary Committee approved a series of proposals that would raise the minimum age to purchase semiautomatic centerfire rifles from 18 to 21; make it illegal to sell, import, manufacture or possess most large-capacity magazines; ban straw purchases of guns; crack down on so-called “ghost guns” that lack serial numbers; build on the administration's executive action banning fast-action “bump-stock” devices; and establish requirements for storing firearms at homes.
The full House could vote on the legislation as early as next week, but it’s unlikely to make it past the Senate floor. A bipartisan group of senators is negotiating toward their own potential bill that might win enough support from Republicans in the 50-50 chamber.
Any such legislation will require the votes of 10 Republican senators, a tall order when it comes to compromise on any legislation, but especially when it comes to an issue as hot-button as guns.
Still, a group of bipartisan lawmakers in the Senate have expressed that they've made progress toward an agreement on legislation in response to the massacre at Uvalde, which Biden on Thursday praised as a step in the right direction.
Biden's legislative team has been in "close contact" with dozens of lawmakers working on the issue and the president is "encouraged by what we're seeing on the Hill," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters earlier Thursday.
"This is the first time in a very long time that we have seen this type of bipartisanship," she noted, which the president later reiterated.
“I support the bipartisan efforts that include a small group of Democrats, Republican senators, trying to find a way” to pass gun reform legislation, Biden said. “But my God, the fact that a 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. We can't fail the American people again.”
Biden acknowledged that the road ahead will be long, but the U.S. must take action to address the scourge of gun violence nationwide.
“I know how hard it is, but I’ll never give up and if Congress fails, I believe this time a majority of the American people won’t give up either,” Biden said. “I believe the majority of you will act to turn your outrage into making this issue central to your vote.”
"For the children we've lost, the children we can save, for the nation we love, let's hear the call and the cry," Biden added. "Let's meet the moment. Let us finally do something."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.