- Violence in this country is an epidemic for God's sake, and it must be stopped.

It's embarrassing from an international perspective, said Joe Biden in a speech at the White House Rose Garden.

Biden presented six new proposals that the Democrats want to get through regarding weapons handling.

Unable to track

The White House wants to regulate home-built weapons, often called "ghost weapons" in the United States, because they cannot be traced.

The Ministry of Justice has been commissioned to produce and present a new tightening of the law on home-built weapons within 30 days.

The Ministry of Justice will also produce a bill that would mean that so-called stabilizing armrests, which can be attached to the back of a handgun to give the shooter increased precision, will require a firearms license.

Congress decides

However, it remains to be seen whether the proposed tightening and laws will be approved by Congress.

In general, Republican politicians tend to be more pro-gun, while several Democrats have tried to tighten gun laws.

An important player in this context is the powerful weapons lobby National Rifle Association (NRA).

Joe Biden said in his speech that the proposals are just the beginning and called on Congress to vote through greater tightening of gun laws, such as better background checks on the sale of the powerful automatic weapons often used in mass shootings.

"The fact that so many Americans die every day from gun violence is a disgrace to who we are and to the image of our country," he said.

He also expressed the view that Congress should review the law on violence against women.

Political explosives

Devastating mass shootings have recently hit Colorado, Georgia and California, but the issue of tougher gun laws is politically sensitive in the United States.

The United States' right to bear arms is enshrined in the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, which was ratified in 1791. This right was reaffirmed in a decision of the US Supreme Court in 2008.

It is currently estimated that around 400 million privately owned firearms are in circulation in the United States.

In 2020, 37 percent of Americans stated that there was a firearm in their home, according to the Gallup poll.