By Mike Memoli, Josh Lederman and Shannon Pettypiece -
NBC News
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden delivers a speech Thursday night from the White House urging Congress once again to pass tougher gun control laws.
His message comes after another shooting Wednesday in Oklahoma, where four people died inside a Tulsa hospital when a gunman shot them with a rifle and semi-automatic pistol.
Biden has repeatedly pleaded with Congress to pass tougher laws to limit access to guns at a time when the country mourns the victims of recent massacres.
On May 24, 19 children and two teachers were killed during a shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
Ten days earlier, on May 14, a gunman killed 10 people in a Buffalo, New York, grocery store.
Biden in the South Auditorium of the White House, on June 1, 2022. Susan Walsh / AP
Biden is calling on Congress to
ban assault rifles and
enact legislation to require
universal background checks
, including for those who buy firearms at fairs or from private sellers.
[A negotiator tried to speak to the killer on the phone during the Uvalde shooting]
But those measures currently do not have the support of most members of Congress, although a bipartisan group in the Senate has been working on a stripped-down version of the reform packages.
Biden has assured that there is little he can do through the executive branch and that any important measure will have to go through Congress.
