New Delhi: The White House announced on Monday that it had reintroduced broad gun control measures in the Senate to extend the 2004 assault weapons ban while Californians were dealing with a mass shooting in Monterey Park, reported news agency AFP. US President Joe Biden on Tuesday urged Congress to quickly enact a ban on assault weapons as California was reeling from two mass shootings that resulted in fatalities in less than 48 hours.
On Monday, a group of senators reintroduced the Federal Assault Weapons Ban and legislation to make 21 the minimum age to purchase assault weapons.
"We know the scourge of gun violence across America requires stronger action. I once again urge both chambers of Congress to act quickly and deliver this Assault Weapons Ban to my desk, and take action to keep American communities, schools, workplaces, and homes safe," Biden said in a statement.
Two days after a massive shooting at a Lunar New Year celebration near Los Angeles, a suspect in the killing of seven people in a rural community in northern California was taken into custody on Tuesday.
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“Communities across America have been struck by tragedy after tragedy, including mass shootings from Colorado Springs to Monterey Park,” President Biden said in the statement.
Even though there have been numerous mass shootings in the country, Congress has repeatedly failed to reauthorise an assault rifle ban that went into effect in 2004.
A ban is opposed by many Republicans due to the constitutional right to own guns.
The 1994 ban, which was enacted as part of a broader crime bill pushed by Biden, who was a senator at the time, prevented the sale of 19 specific weapons that resemble military weapons, such as semiautomatic rifles and particular kinds of shotguns and handguns. Magazines that can hold more than ten rounds of ammunition were also banned. It was permissible for those with such weapons to keep them.