President Joe Biden welcomed a crowd to the White House lawn on Monday to showcase a new law meant to reduce gun violence, saying the measure represents “real progress” after years of inaction.
Biden hosted hundreds of guests on the South Lawn, including a bipartisan group of lawmakers who crafted and supported the legislation, as well as local officials — including Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering — as well as the families of victims of both mass shootings and everyday gun violence.
Still, Biden said, “we’re living in a country awash in weapons of war.” He repeated his call on Congress to pass a federal ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines — or at minimum to require more stringent background checks and training requirements before purchases. Biden on Saturday invited Americans to share with him via text — a new White House communications strategy — their stories of, tweeting that “I’m hosting a celebration of the passage of the Safer Communities Act.” He told some of their stories on Monday of people traumatized by shootings and kids left orphaned by gun violence.
“It’s historic, but it’s also the very bare minimum of what Congress should do,” Volsky said. “And as we were reminded by the shooting on July 4, and there’s so many other gun deaths that have occurred since then, the crisis of of gun violence is just far more urgent.” “We have a president who really hasn’t met the moment, who has chosen to act as a bystander on this issue,” Volsky said. “For some reason the administration absolutely refuses to have a senior official who can drive this issue across government.”
White House officials said Biden doesn’t see the passage of the bill as the finish line, but rather a foundation that needs to be built on. The Illinois shooting occurred nine days after the bill signing.
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