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Biden condemns the second “senseless act of gun violence” in California in three days after the Half Moon Bay shooting left seven dead, and calls on Congress to raise the age to purchase assault weapons to 21.
- President Joe Biden issued a statement Tuesday morning about the “heinous attack” that has claimed at least seven lives in Half Moon Bay, California.
- It comes after 11 people died celebrating Lunar New Year in Monterey Park
- Congressional Democrats reintroduced an assault weapons ban Monday
President Joe Biden issued a forceful statement Tuesday morning about the “senseless act of gun violence” that claimed seven lives in Half Moon Bay the night before — the second mass shooting California has seen in just days.
The White House has also once again urged Congress to raise the minimum age to purchase an assault weapon to 21 after at least 18 people died between the two gruesome murders.
On Saturday, a gunman opened fire at a dance studio in Monterey Park, California, where people were celebrating Lunar New Year. Ten people died that night, while another victim succumbed to his injuries on Monday.
“Jill and I are praying for those killed and injured in the latest tragic shooting in Half Moon Bay, California,” the president said.
“For the second time in recent days, California communities are mourning the loss of loved ones in a senseless act of gun violence.”
Police officers detain a man, believed by law enforcement to be the suspect in the Half Moon Bay mass shooting, in Half Moon Bay, California, USA, January 23, 2023.
Screenshot from video showing emergency services helping a person into an ambulance following a shooting in Monterey Park, California, USA.
Biden said he is directing federal “support” at local Half Moon Bay officials and the broader community after the “heinous attack.”
“Yesterday, Senator Feinstein, along with Senators Murphy, Blumenthal and others, reintroduced a federal assault weapons ban and legislation that would raise the minimum age to purchase assault weapons to 21,” the president said.
“Even as we await more details on these shootings, we know that the scourge of gun violence across America requires stronger action.
“Once again, I urge both houses of Congress to act quickly and deliver this Assault Weapons Ban to my desk, and take steps to keep American communities, schools, workplaces and homes safe.”
A federal ban on the sale of more than a dozen assault-style weapons was in effect between 1994 and 2004, as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994.
People who already owned such weapons were not forced to give them up.
But during that time, data has shown that the rate and likelihood of mass shootings decreased.
President Joe Biden called Monday’s massacre a “heinous attack” and mourned the lives lost for the second time in less than a week.
Then-Sen. Biden was one of the law’s leading proponents.
Multiple efforts to revive prohibition in the nearly 20 years since it expired, mainly led by Democrats, have failed.
“It is time to re-enact an assault weapons ban and get these weapons of war out of our communities,” Rep. David Cicilline, D-Rhode Island, said Monday as he introduced the latest effort.
“We passed the assault weapons ban in the House last year with bipartisan support, which was later blocked by Senate Republicans.”
Senator Dianne Feinstein of California said: “The constant stream of mass shootings has a common thread: almost all of them involve assault weapons. It’s because these weapons were designed to kill as many people as quickly as possible. They have nothing to do in our communities or schools.’
But such legislation is unlikely to attract enough Republicans to reach the 60-vote threshold needed to pass.
On the House side, the rise is even steeper with a Republican-controlled majority making it clear they have no intention of straying from their line of aversion to gun control.