U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday called on the U.S. Congress to ban assault rifles and carry out police reform, all in reference to recent shootings in the country and police abuses of the black population.
The U.S. president called on lawmakers to save lives by banning assault weapons «once and for all,» recalling that a temporary ban passed in 1994 led to a ten-year decline in shootings, he said during his State of the Union address.
«(We must) ban assault weapons once and for all. We’ve done it before. I led the fight to ban them in 1994. In the 10 years that the ban was law, shootings went down (…) Let’s finish the job and ban assault weapons again,» Biden said to applause from the Democratic caucus.
In this sense, he praised the gun safety law approved by his administration that makes access to this type of weapons more difficult for young people between 18 and 21 years old and for people with certain criminal records.
According to the U.S. President, he promoted the law after the plea of parents who lost their children in the elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, where last May an 18 year old killed two teachers and 19 children.
BIDEN CALLS FOR POLICE REFORM FOLLOWING TYRE NICHOLS DEATH In his first State of the Union address since the House of Representatives has a Republican majority, Biden has urged members of Congress to pursue police reform after several Memphis city police officers fatally beat a young African-American man, Tyre Nichols.
Specifically, the tenant of the White House has proposed to give law enforcement «the training they need», while requiring them to maintain «the safety of all». Meanwhile, he stressed the importance of providing more resources in housing, education and training in an effort to reduce crime and prevent police abuses.
However, he reiterated that society must hold police officers accountable when they «violate» its trust.
«I know that most police officers (and) their families are good, decent, honorable people,» the President of the United States emphasized during his speech, receiving applause from both benches.
«They risk their lives every time they put on that shield. But what happened to Tyre in Memphis happens all too often. We have to do better, give law enforcement the real training they need,» added Biden, who moments earlier had addressed Nichols’ parents, who were present in the Capitol and who received a standing ovation from the entire Congress.
The US president said that «there are no words» to describe the anguish or pain of losing a son, and confessed that, after speaking with Nichols’ mother, she told him that «something good» should come out of his death.
«Let’s commit to making the mother’s words come true. Something good must come out of this,» Biden said.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
