"We must also ban assault rifles," US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday after a massacre that left 10 people dead Monday in the state of Colorado.

"I don't need to wait another minute, let alone an hour, to take common sense action that will save lives," he added.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday called for a ban on assault rifles after another massacre that reignited the debate on the proliferation of firearms in the United States and whose alleged perpetrator, a young man, 21, has been charged.

The massacre, which killed 10 people including a police officer at a Boulder, Colorado supermarket, came less than a week after a man shot dead eight people at Asian massage parlors in Atlanta, Georgia.

A repetition that prompted urgent calls to the Democratic administration and elected officials to act.

"I don't need to wait another minute"

Identified as Ahmad Alissa, the suspect was injured in the leg and hospitalized.

He is in "stable condition," said Boulder police chief Maris Herold.

"He was charged with ten murders," she said.

His motive is not yet known, according to the authorities.

All the victims have been identified and were between 20 and 65 years old, according to the same source.

The deceased policeman was the father of seven children, according to Maris Herold.

President Biden has ordered flags to be half-masted in all public buildings.

"I don't need to wait another minute, let alone an hour, to take common sense action that will save lives in the future and to urge my colleagues in the House and Senate to act," he said.

"We must also ban assault rifles," he added.

According to American media, the shooter was equipped with an AR-15 type assault rifle, a weapon often used in killings.

A recurring problem in the United States

The suspect is accused of shooting 10 people Monday afternoon in or around the King Soopers store in Boulder.

Live footage showed a man, wearing only athletic shorts, being taken by police out of the store.

His hands cuffed behind his back, he appeared to be injured in the leg, with traces of blood.

Witnesses said they first heard several gunshots outside the King Soopers store.

Nevin Sloan, who narrowly escaped with his wife Quinlan, described the growing panic as the shots drew closer, with customers wondering whether to stay hidden inside or flee.

"Suddenly we heard more 'bang, bang, bang, bang'. I ran to her (his wife) and I said to her 'Hey, we have to get out of here'," he said. he told CBS.

They then helped other clients escape through an emergency exit, he said.

Police officers went there "just minutes" after being alerted to the presence of a gunman in the supermarket parking lot and "very quickly" entered the supermarket where he was holed up, authorities said. .

Shootings of this type, especially in schools, shopping malls or places of worship, are a recurring evil in the United States and successive governments have been powerless to stem the increase in these killings.

"We must act now to prevent this scourge from continuing to ravage our population," said Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.

The leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, for his part denounced "a continuous epidemic of violence by firearms which steals innocent lives with alarming regularity".

Tightening of gun laws still unlikely

"It is high time for our leaders to act and protect us from gun violence," said Shannon Watts, founder of the organization "Moms Demand Action".

But the hypothesis of a tightening of the laws on weapons remains improbable given the opposition of the Republicans.

Colorado has already seen two of the worst killings in American history.

In 1999, two teenagers killed 12 classmates and a teacher at their Columbine high school.

And in 2012, a heavily armed man shot dead 12 people in a cinema in Aurora.

The city of Boulder had imposed a ban on "assault rifle-type weapons" and high capacity magazines after a high school shooting in Parkland, Florida (17 dead) in 2018. But according to the

Denver Post

newspaper

, a judge suspended the ban last week, a move hailed by the National Rifle Association (NRA), the premier gun lobby.