WASHINGTON, May 24 (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden has called on Americans to stand up to the gun lobby and stepped up pressure on members of Congress to pass sensible gun laws after the death of at least 19 children and two adults in a shooting at a Texas school on Tuesday.
“When I became president, I hoped that I would never have to do this again”, declared Joe Biden, visibly moved, regretting the death of “beautiful, innocent” students of CE1, CE2 and CM1 in a “new massacre “.
Their parents “will never see their child again, will never see them climb into their beds again to wink at them,” he said.
“As a country we have to ask ourselves when in the name of God we are going to stand up to the gun lobby, when in the name of God we will do what we all know deep down that have to do,” Joe Biden said. “I’ve had more than enough. We have to act. And don’t tell me we have no influence over this carnage.”
Joe Biden mentioned the assault weapons ban, which he saw introduced in 1994 when he was a senator from Delaware, and which was not renewed when it expired in 2004.
“When we passed the Assault Weapons Ban, mass shootings went down. When the law expired, mass shootings tripled. Buying two assault weapons is simply unacceptable,” the US president said.
Authorities said Salvador Ramos, an 18-year-old man, opened fire at a South Texas elementary school, killing at least 19 children and two adults, before he was apparently shot dead when forces intervened. of orders.
Joe Biden was informed of the shooting while on board Air Force One after returning from a trip to Asia, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said on Twitter.
In a statement released before landing, Joe Biden ordered the flags of the White House and federal and state buildings to be flown at half-mast until May 28.
Uvalde’s shooting comes just 10 days after a grocery store shooting in Buffalo, New York, and has increased pressure on the Biden administration to deliver on promises to crack down on gun violence fire.
(Report Rami Ayyub, Andrea Shalal and Trevor Hunnicutt; French version Camille Raynaud)