WISCONSIN: US President Joe Biden has renewed his call for an assault weapons ban after the shooting incident in a school in Georgia that left four people dead, CNN reported.
He urged Congress to act on stronger gun control measures. In his remarks at the solar energy manufacturer in Westby, Wisconsin, Biden said, “I’d like to say a few words about the school shooting yesterday.”
He stated that some of the Republican leaders in Congress should “finally” say “enough is enough.” Biden has been calling for an assault weapons ban for a long time but has been stymied by Republican leaders in Congress.
Biden stated, “As a nation, we cannot continue to accept the carnage of gun violence. I’m a gun owner. I believe strongly in the amendment. We need … more than thoughts and prayers,” CNN reported.
He said, “We have to do something together.” Biden stated, “Let’s ban assault weapons.”
US President also called for proper check of background checks, an end to immunity for gun manufacturers and for parents who allow their children to have weapons to be held accountable, according to CNN report.
He said, “I realize I’m in a rural area, like the rural parts of my state, where guns — we all have them and it’s not popular to talk about it, but the truth is, there’s a difference between rational and irrational.”
Biden stated that the decision ” won’t bring back those children.” However, it would “help save lives if we do the things we’re talking about.” He said, “We can do if we do it together.” He said, “And I really think we can.”
At least four people, including two students, have been killed and nine others were injured when a fellow student opened fire in a high school in the US state of Georgia on Wednesday, CNN reported.
The suspected gunman is in custody and was identified as 14-year-old Colt Cray, a student of Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, about an hour outside of Atlanta.
Two of those killed were students and two were teachers. Law enforcement agencies are still investigating the shooting and the motive behind it.
The school shooting was just the latest among dozens across the US in recent years, including deadly ones in Connecticut, Parkland, Florida, Newtown, and Uvalde, Texas.
So far, at least 385 mass shooting incidents have taken place in the US in 2024, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which, like CNN, considers mass shootings as those in which four or more victims are shot. That’s an average of more than 1.5 mass shootings every day. (ANI)