US President Joe Biden called for action for Congress to tighten gun laws and recalled a bipartisan bill which was defeated in the Senate with the backing of the gun lobby led by the National Rifle Association, during former president Barack Obama’s reign. Picture: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque
Cape Town – In a bid to prevent police misconduct, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Wednesday on the second anniversary of the death of George Floyd while further pledging to tighten gun laws.
During a press briefing on Wednesday, Biden was seen with a range of emotions following the death of 19 children and two adults at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
Biden called for action for Congress to tighten gun laws and recalled a bipartisan bill which was defeated in the Senate with the backing of the gun lobby led by the National Rifle Association, during former president Barack Obama’s reign.
According to the Washington Post, the gun lobby is a citizen-grounded movement that retains a stranglehold on the Republican Party.
“The Second Amendment is not absolute … When it was passed, you couldn’t own a cannon, you couldn’t own certain kinds of weapons,” Biden said.
“You couldn’t own certain kinds of weapons. It’s just always been limitations.”
“I’m just sick and tired of what’s going on and what continues to go on,” he said.
The president said America is not unique to mental illnesses, domestic disputes or have people who are lost, however, it is only in America that these mass shootings are frequent.
“It is time to turn this pain into action, for every parent, for every citizen in this country,” Biden said.
“We have to make it clear to every elected official in this country, it’s time to act,” he said.
Meanwhile, on the second anniversary of George Floyd, signed an executive order on preventing and punishing police misconduct. He also authorising the formation of a national accreditation system for the police department which will maintain a national database of federal officers who have disciplinary records or face substantiated misconduct complaints.
“It’s a measure of what we can do together to heal the very soul of this nation, to address profound fear and trauma that particularly Black Americans have experienced for generations,” Biden said.
“And to channel that private pain and public outrage into a rare mark of progress for years to come.”
IOL