Joe Biden on Sunday called on Congress to act "now" to limit the circulation of firearms in the United States, three years after the high school massacre in Parkland, Florida.
"This administration will not wait for the next mass shooting" to hear the calls for action, said the American president in a statement marking the anniversary of this attack which killed 17 people on February 14, 2018.
"I call on Congress today to enact common sense reforms regarding weapons," said Joe Biden, calling for mandatory background checks on buyers "for all arms sales," to ban High capacity assault rifles and magazines.
"We will enact these laws and other laws that will save lives," said Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives immediately, pledging "to bring about the progress that the people of Parkland and the people demand and deserve. American ”.
Last Congress House Democrats took action to save lives w / HR 8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act, & HR 1112, the Enhanced Background Checks Act.
Now w / the Dem.
Senate and Administration, we will deliver the progress that Parkland & the American people deserve.
- Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) February 14, 2021
Democrats now also hold a very narrow majority in the Senate, but they will need at least ten Republicans to pass these laws, which currently seems difficult.
For Joe Biden, we must "put an end to the immunity of arms manufacturers who knowingly put weapons of war in our streets".
Unprecedented mobilization in 2018
In 2018, on Valentine's Day, a 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz opened fire at this Southeast Florida facility, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, killing 14 high school students and 3 supervisors before d 'to be arrested.
Excluded from school the previous year for "disciplinary reasons", he had been able to legally obtain a semi-automatic assault rifle despite a psychiatric history.
Despite an unprecedented mobilization of high school students in Parkland for stricter control of arms sales, President Donald Trump then refused to consider banning assault rifles.
Successive American administrations have been powerless to stem the increase in mass killings that regularly strike American schools, shopping malls, businesses or places of worship.