Biden says he’ll renew push for assault weapons ban

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden mentioned Thursday he would make a renewed effort to enact a ban on assault-style rifles following a wave of mass shootings which have once more put a highlight on the nation’s gun management legal guidelines.

Chatting with reporters throughout a go to to a hearth station on Thanksgiving morning, the president reiterated his longstanding argument that such weapons are a societal menace and shouldn’t be offered.

“The concept we nonetheless enable semi-automatic weapons to be bought is sick,” he mentioned whereas greeting firefighters in Nantucket, the place he and his household are spending the Thanksgiving vacation. “It has no, no social redeeming worth. Zero. None. Not a single solitary rationale for it besides revenue for the gun producers.”

Congress has proved reluctant to outlaw AR-15s and different assault-style weapons. The Democratic-controlled Home handed a ban in July, in a vote largely alongside celebration traces. However the invoice stands little probability of advancing within the Senate, the place 10 Republicans would wish to hitch a unified Democratic caucus to interrupt a filibuster.

Biden was requested if he may press for a ban within the congressional lame duck session, when outgoing lawmakers who aren’t going through one other election may really feel freer to interrupt with base voters and the well-funded gun foyer.

 “I’ll attempt,” Biden mentioned. “I’ll do it each time I …” he continued. “I acquired to make that evaluation as I get in and begin counting the votes.”

Senate Republican chief Mitch McConnell’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

Biden’s remarks got here two days after an evening supervisor at a Walmart retailer in Virginia opened hearth on his co-workers, killing six and leaving at the least a half dozen others wounded. The shooter, recognized as 31-year-old Andre Bing, took his personal life. Authorities mentioned he used a handgun within the assault.

Mass shootings have been happening with chilling frequency. On Saturday, a gunman killed 5 folks and injured greater than two dozen others at Membership Q, a LGBTQ membership in Colorado Springs. Patrons prevented extra deaths by confronting and disarming the suspect, recognized by officers as Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22. The weapon used was within the model of a Colt AR-15, in accordance with Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez.

The president and first girl Jill Biden on Thursday phoned Membership Q’s house owners, in accordance with the White Home. They informed the 2 house owners, Nic Grzecka and Matthew Haynes, that they’re dedicated to combatting “hate and gun violence,” the White Home mentioned.

Biden has a protracted historical past with the up-and-down efforts to ban the sale of assault-style weapons. As a senator from Delaware in 1994, he helped usher in an assault weapons ban that was credited with curbing deaths from mass shootings. The ban expired 10 years later in the course of the administration of President George W. Bush and was by no means renewed.

Biden promised throughout his 2020 marketing campaign to outlaw the sale and manufacture of assault weapons, and in a televised city corridor occasion final month, reiterated that he would make good on that pledge.

“By the way in which, I’ll get an assault weapons ban,” the president informed CNN. “Earlier than that is over, I’ll get that once more. Not a joke, and watch.”

With Republicans set to take management of the Home in 2023, the year-end lame duck session could also be a closing alternative for Biden to satisfy his aim earlier than the 2024 presidential election.

“I’ll try to eliminate assault weapons,” Biden mentioned on the hearth station.

The primary household returned to the Massachusetts island in a convention that began many years in the past when Joe and Jill Biden had been nonetheless relationship.

The president and the primary girl delivered pumpkin pies to the firefighters in Nantucket, accompanied by their grandson, Beau, who was given a tiny hearth helmet to put on.

Additionally they known as into the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in New York Metropolis, providing their because of firefighters and repair members, and mentioned their day could be a quiet one.

“We’re simply going to have dinner with the household, most likely take a stroll on the seashore, and simply really feel gratitude for our household,” Jill Biden mentioned.

Peter Nicholas is a senior nationwide political reporter for NBC Information.