“Do it now. It’s enough ! » Joe Biden adopted an offensive tone on Tuesday, March 14, to convey his message to Congress on the need to legislate to limit the circulation of firearms in the United States.
The Democratic president, who came to the Asian community of Monterey Park, California, bereaved by a recent shooting in a dance hall, announced a new round of regulatory measures to reduce gun violence, but he also recalled that it was up to parliamentarians to impose real restrictions on the shootings that punctuate the life of the country. States have jurisdiction over the purchase, ownership and possession of firearms. Only a federal law could be imposed on them.
” Let’s be clear. None of this absolves Congress of its responsibility.he said, after presenting the latest decrees.
He called on the divided parliament – with a Senate in Democratic hands but a House of Representatives dominated by the Republican opposition – to impose systematic background checks on gun purchases, to remove protections for gun manufacturers. weapons in the face of the risk of complaints, and above all to ban assault rifles. But it is very unlikely that his appeal will be heard: the conservatives, fervent defenders of the constitutional right to have weapons, oppose in fact any significant legislative tightening in a country which would have some 393 million civilian firearms for 331.9 million inhabitants.
Already more than 8,400 per firearm in 2023
Joe Biden spoke of the eleven victims who fell on January 21 under the bullets of a septuagenarian, taking care to personalize his evocation. He recalled, for example, the memory of a 62-year-old woman who loved ” play cards “ And “Sharing the vegetables from your garden with your neighbors and friends”. Or the memory of a 72-year-old man, “infectious smile” And “died protecting his rider. » Joe Biden was greeted when he got off the plane in Los Angeles, among others, by Brandon Tsay, who had managed to disarm the Monterey Park shooter as the latter was about to attack a second dance hall.
The White House previously announced new regulatory measures to strengthen background checks for gun purchases at the fringe. The executive also wants to encourage the use of reporting potentially violent individuals, whom justice can then deprive of firearms, and deal with the explosion – + 250% between 2018 and 2022 – in the number of declared weapons as “stolen” Or “lost” during transport between merchants.
Joe Biden also wants to step up the pressure on the powerful gun industry. He “encourages” in addition, the Federal Trade Agency, an independent body, to publish a report on the sale and promotion of firearms to minors.
According to the count of the site Gun Violence Archive, more than 8,400 people have been killed by firearms since the beginning of the year in the United States, more than half of them by suicide. The same site recorded 110 shootings over the same period that injured or killed at least 4 people – not including the shooter.