US President Joe Biden on Tuesday vouched for stronger laws to ban assault weapons in order to curb mass shootings in the country. Speaking at the State of the Union Address, the President said that "mass shootings tripled" after Republicans let it expire.
"In the 10 years the ban was law, mass shootings went down. After Republicans let it expire, mass shootings tripled. Let’s finish the job and ban assault weapons again, said Biden in his address.
Speaking further he said that collective effort is required to "reduce violent crime & gun crime" and stressed on the need to completely ban assault weapons. He also mentioned that he had started the fight against the 'gun culture' way back in 1994.
"We need more resources to reduce violent crime & gun crime, community intervention programs...All this can help prevent violence in the first place...Ban assault weapons once and for all. We did it before. I led the fight to ban them in 1994: US President Joe Biden."
The US president in his address emphasised on the need of building a consensus amongst the Democrats and Republicans on important matters related to the welfare of the country.
"To my Republican friends, if we could work together in the last Congress, there is no reason we can’t work together and find consensus on important things in this Congress as well," said Biden in his address.
He also spoke on a host of other issues including the Abortion Ban, Infrastructure Bill, Russia-Ukraine War and US-China relations.
Reiterating his support for Ukraine as the conflict approaches its one-year anniversary, Biden said, "Together, we did what America always does at our best. We led. We united NATO. We built a global coalition. We stood against Putin’s aggression. We stood with the Ukrainian people. Tonight, we are once again joined by Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United States. She represents not just her nation, but the courage of her people."