Biden calls on the U.S. Congress to immediately strengthen gun control legislation
Xinhua News Agency, Washington, March 23 (Reporter Xu Jianmei and Deng Xianlai) In one week, there have been successive major shootings in the United States.
US President Biden called on the Senate on the 23rd to immediately pass the gun bill previously approved by the House of Representatives and strengthen gun control legislation.
Biden said that Congress should take immediate action to ban offensive weapons and large-capacity magazines, plug the loopholes in the background check procedures for gun purchases, and "save lives."
He said: "This is not and should not be a partisan issue, but an American issue. We must take action."
The Democratic and Republican parties of the U.S. Congress have always had sharp differences on gun control issues.
With the support of the Biden administration, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives passed two bills on the 11th to strengthen background checks on gun purchases.
As the two parties each occupy 50 seats in the Senate, the US media predicts that these two bills will be difficult to obtain the 60 votes required to pass through the Senate.
According to American media reports, the United States has not passed important gun control laws for more than 20 years.
In 2019, Democrats passed a similar bill after regaining a majority in the House of Representatives, but it was then shelved by the Senate, which was controlled by the Republican Party.
A shooting occurred on the 22nd in a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado, in the western United States, killing 10 people, including a policeman, and the operating mechanism of the gun is unknown.
Three shootings occurred in the Atlanta area of Southern Georgia on the 16th, killing 8 people, including 6 Asian women, and sparking strong protests across the United States against the increasing violence and discrimination against Asians in the epidemic.