After the Colorado massacre, Biden asked the US Congress to ban assault weapons

03/23/2021 3:13 PM

• Clarín.com

• World

Updated 03/23/2021 3:13 PM

US President Joe Biden on Tuesday asked Congress to "immediately" approve

measures to strengthen gun control

in the United States, including a ban on all assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition magazines.

"We can save lives" with gun control, Biden said in a statement from the White House about the shooting that

left 10 people dead on

Monday

in a Boulder,

Colorado,

supermarket

.

Biden said that while

exact details

about the suspect's motives and the type of weapons he used

are still unknown

, he did not want to "wait another minute, or another hour, to take steps that are common sense and will save lives in the future. ".

The supermarket where the Boulder massacre took place.

Photo: AFP

"I urge my colleagues in the Lower House and Senate to act. We can again ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines in this country," the president stressed.

The United States approved a federal assault weapons veto in the country in 1994, which in Biden's words

"caused mass killings to collapse

,

"

but in 2004 it expired without being renewed by Congress.

The gun control debate is periodically revived in the United States when there are mass shootings, but the National Rifle Association (NRA) and its powerful allies in Congress have prevented far-reaching measures from being passed in recent years. years.

Biden specifically asked that

the Senate approve "immediately" two bills

that have already received the approval of the Lower House and that would "close the loopholes in the background check system" of gun buyers.

Asked whether he will present his own legislative proposals to increase gun control, the president said he would elaborate on that issue at another time.

After the massacre, the supermarket became a place to honor the victims.

Photo: EFE

Biden said he was

"devastated" by the news of the shooting in Colorado

and by the fact that it occurred "less than a week after the terrifying murders of eight people, the assault on the Asian community" in Atlanta.

As he did after those attacks, the president ordered this Tuesday to lower the flags of the White House and all public buildings in the country to half-staff until March 27, in memory of the victims of the Boulder shooting.

He also said that police officer Eric Talley, who passed away while trying to save supermarket customers, is "the

definition of an American hero

."

Source: agencies

Look also

The perpetrator of the Colorado massacre was identified as a 21-year-old named Ahmad Alissa

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