President Joe Biden urged Congress to pass gun control legislation and said he would “sign it immediately,” as the nation reels after another mass shooting on Saturday.
At least nine people dead, including the suspect, and seven others were wounded during the mass shooting at a shopping center in Allen, Texas.
Such an attack is too shocking to be so familiar,” Biden said in a statement Sunday.
“Once again I ask Congress to send me a bill banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Enacting universal background checks. Requiring safe storage. Ending immunity for gun manufacturers. I will sign it immediately. We need nothing less to keep our streets safe,” Biden said.
Biden: GOP lawmakers ‘shrug’ at mass shootings
The attack at an outlet mall in Texas on Saturday afternoon was the latest in a string of mass shootings across the country. Texas was also the site of a mass shooting last weekend when a gunman killed five people in Cleveland, Texas.
Gun control advocates celebrated last June after Biden signed a bipartisan gun control bill in the wake of a shooting at an elementary school that left 21 people – 19 students and two teachers dead – in Uvalde, Texas.
But as the country continues to experience a slew of mass shootings, Biden has pleaded with Congress to do more, including banning assault weapons. After a mass shooting in Nashville, Tennessee that left three children and three adults dead in March, Biden said he has exhausted all of his executive authority.
Congressional Democrats have followed Biden’s lead and have also called for stronger gun control laws, but there appears to be little appetite among congressional Republicans for any additional laws. Most Republicans in Congress have pinned the issue on mental health instead.
After the Nashville school shooting, House Speaker McCarthy told reporters he did not think “one piece of legislation” could deal with mass shootings and said “we’ve got to deal with mental illness.”
Biden in his statement specifically went after GOP lawmakers, blaming them for inaction on mass shootings.
“Too many families have empty chairs at their dinner tables. Republican Members of Congress cannot continue to meet this epidemic with a shrug. Tweeted thoughts and prayers are not enough.”
