FILE – In this Jan. 19, 2016 file photo, customers look at guns at the Heckler & Koch booth at the Hunting and Hunting Show in Las Vegas. On November 24, 2022, President Biden spoke in favor of a ban on assault weapons. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
AP
After the mass shootings in Colorado and Virginia, President Joe Biden has come out in favor of banning assault weapons, which is constantly being proposed in law. His comments came as national support for tougher gun laws has declined in recent months.
In response to the Nov. 19 massacre at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, the president issued a statement saying, “If we decide we had enough?” He added, “We need an assault weapons ban to get assault weapons off the streets of America.”
Four days later a – the gunman shot A Walmart in Virginia filled with shoppers stocking up for the holidays killed six people, the Associated Press reported.
“The idea that we still allow the purchase of semi-automatic weapons is sick. Just sick,” Biden said on Thanksgiving, according to the Associated Press. “I will try get rid of combat weapons.”
There is disagreement about exactly what an assault weapons ban would entail. This is partly due to the fact that “assault weapon” is not a precise term, although it is generally used to refer to “military-type assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition magazines.’
Despite the highly controversial nature of the issue, Congress passed a bipartisan gun legislation earlier this year, which imposed stricter requirements for young people who want to purchase guns and denied more domestic abusers access to firearms.
But one proposed banning assault weapons passed by the House earlier this year before stalling in an evenly divided Senate.
The president’s new calls for a total ban come as support for tougher gun laws is falling.
While the majority of Americans polled is 57%, according to a Gallup poll conducted in October, it down from 66% in June.
Support for new gun laws hit a record low of 43% in 2011 and an all-time high of 67% in 2018, according to Gallup, which has tracked Americans’ views on gun laws since 1990.
Democrats and Republicans are sharply divided on the issue. Currently, 86% of Democrats and 27% of Republicans say laws governing the sale of firearms should be stricter, according to Gallup.
A renewed Democratic gun ban initiative has little chance of succeeding in creating new legislation, experts say, and those chances will only diminish when newly elected representatives and senators are sworn in in January, creating a divided Congress.
“Every American has the right to go to work, to the movies, or to a night out without fear,” Democratic Rep. Pete Aguilar tweeted. “The house passed universal checks and a ban on combat weapons. We won’t stop until they become law.”
“Democrats are proposing such gun control measures encroach on freedom law-abiding citizens and does little to reduce gun violence,” Republican Rep. Steve Scalise said in a statement in June, shortly after the House voted in favor of the proposed ban.
The United States has experienced more 600 mass shootings during each of the past three years, according to the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive. While the country has 4.4% world population, 31% of mass shootings in the world is happening on American soil, according to a recent study.
According to the Pew Research Center, mass shootings account for a small fraction of all gun-related deaths in the United States. In 2020, the majority of all firearm-related deaths—54%—were suicides.
