Nashville shooting: Biden raises pressure on GOP to take action on guns
The White House is blaming Republicans in Congress for the lack of action on guns, turning up the heat on the GOP to address rampant gun violence while appealing to voters fed up with America’s epidemic of mass shootings.
President Biden is focusing his anger over the elementary school shooting in Nashville this week squarely on Republicans, calling for lawmakers to show courage and warning that Congress will have to answer to families that have lost loved ones through gun violence.
“The Congress has to act. The majority of the American people think having assault weapons is bizarre, it’s a crazy idea. They’re against that,” Biden said on Tuesday. “I can’t do anything except plead with Congress to act reasonably.”
The president’s broadsides came one day after the deadly shooting at a private Christian elementary school in an upscale Nashville neighborhood. The 28-year-old suspect was armed with three guns, two of which were assault-type weapons, according to local authorities. The shooter killed three children and three adults before being killed by police.
While calling for an assault weapons ban on Tuesday, Biden said people ask him why he keeps urging reforms that Republicans repeatedly reject.
“Because I want you to know who isn’t doing it, who isn’t helping. Put pressure on them,” he said, adding that there’s “a moral price to pay for inaction.”
Monday’s tragedy has revived the on-again, off-again debate over gun violence on Capitol Hill, where the parties have vastly different ideas about how to address the epidemic. Democrats have, for decades, pushed tougher gun laws designed to keep firearms out of the hands of violent people, and they’re joining the White House in accusing Republicans of sitting on their hands while kids are killed.
“Every time one of these tragedies happens it’s a reminder of just how pathetic this institution is at addressing this,” said Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.).
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By: Ales Gangitano & Mike Lillis
Source: The Hill
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