After a gunman, a teenage boy, shot and killed 19 children at a Texas elementary school, US President Joe Biden made an emotional plea to curb America’s gun culture Tuesday night. The horrific incident, the deadliest shooting at a US school since 20 children and six adults were gunned down at Sandy Hook almost a decade ago, has once again focused attention on the country’s lax gun control laws and the powerful lobbyists who oppose any effort to limit weapon sales.
Biden called for action from the White House less than an hour after the Texas shootings, blaming gun manufacturers and their supporters for blocking targeted legislation.
Joe Biden’s five quotes on the Texas school shooting and gun control laws:
“Mass shootings decreased after we passed the Assault Weapons Ban (in 1994). When the law expired [in 2004], the number of mass shootings tripled. The idea that an 18-year-old can walk into a gun store and purchase assault weapons is simply absurd.”
“Losing a child is like losing a piece of one’s soul. There’s a hollowness in your chest that makes you feel as if you’re being sucked into it… you’re never the same again “..
When will we, in God’s name, stand up to the gun lobby? Why are we willing to put up with this slaughter? Why do we continue to allow this to happen?”
“These kinds of mass shootings are extremely rare anywhere else in the world” (referring to other nations, like the United Kingdom, that do not have this level gun violence). Why?”
