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President Addresses Nation and Urges Congress to Act on Guns

In a rare, prime-time address, President Biden calls on Congress to ban assault weapons, expand background checks, and pass red flag laws to stem the tide of gun violence.
President Addresses Nation and Urges Congress to Act on Guns

President Biden demanded on Thursday that lawmakers respond to communities turned into "killing fields" by passing far-reaching limits on guns, calling on Congress to ban assault-style weapons, expand background checks and pass "red flag" laws after massacres in Texas and New York, according to The New York Times.

‘Enough, Enough’: Biden Calls On Lawmakers to Pass Gun Legislation (The New York Times)

Excerpt from The New York Times: In a rare evening address to the nation, Mr. Biden dared Republicans to ignore the repeated convulsions of anger and grief from gun violence by continuing to block gun measures supported by large majorities in both parties, and even among gun owners. "My God," he declared from the Cross Hall, a ceremonial part of the White House residence, which was lined with candles in honor of victims of gun violence. "The fact that the majority of the Senate Republicans don’t want any of these proposals, even to be debated or come up for a vote, I find unconscionable. We can’t fail the American people again."
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President Biden called on Congress to take immediate action on gun control, seeking to transform emotion and anger into change as the nation reeled from a spate of horrific mass shootings from New York to Texas to Oklahoma, writes The Washington Post.

Biden urges Congress to act on guns in rare prime-time address (The Washington Post)

Excerpt from The Washington Post: The United States has resisted firearms limits following wrenching deadly attacks that have erupted on an increasingly regular basis over the past few decades, but Biden sought to channel a feeling by some in Washington that this time could be different in the aftermath of a racist massacre and a slaughter at an elementary school that gripped the nation’s attention. "After Columbine, after Sandy Hook, after Charleston, after Orlando, after Las Vegas, after Parkland, nothing has been done," Biden said, reeling off a litany of mass killings. "This time, that can’t be true. This time we must actually do something."
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The Guardian reports that Joe Biden has urged for a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines after a series of mass shootings that stunned America, demanding: "How much more carnage are we willing to accept?"

Biden calls for assault weapons ban in fiery speech: ‘How much carnage will we accept?’ (The Guardian)

Excerpt from The Guardian: Biden’s impassioned plea came after a month that saw 10 people shot dead at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, and 19 children and two teachers killed in Robb elementary school in Uvalde, Texas; both gunmen were 18 and used an AR-15-style weapon. There have been 20 mass shootings since Uvalde, including on Wednesday in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where a gunman shot and killed four people and himself at a medical office. And just moments after Biden’s speech, authorities reported yet another shooting – this time outside a megachurch in Iowa – that killed three, including the shooter.
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