Monitoring Desk
WASHINGTON: The United States (US) President Joe Biden on Tuesday called for Congress to act quickly to ban assault weapons, as California reeled from two mass shootings in less than 48 hours.
On Monday, a group of US senators reintroduced legislation and a federal Assault Weapons Ban to raise the minimum purchase age for weapons to 21 years.
“We know the curse of gun violence across the US requires stronger action. I once again ask both chambers of the US Congress to act quickly and deliver this Assault Weapons Ban to my desk, and take quick action to keep American communities, homes, schools, and workplaces safe,” said Biden in a statement.
California mass shootings
A suspected gunman was arrested Tuesday over the killing of seven people in a rural community in northern California, just 48 hours after a mass shooting incident on the occasion of the Lunar New Year celebration near Los Angeles.
A law banning assault rifles expired in 2004, and the US Congress has repeatedly failed to renew the law even as the country suffered repeated mass shootings.
Several Republicans oppose a ban on assault weapons citing the constitutional right to gun ownership.
