“We must do more to stop gun violence. It is tearing our communities apart,” the president said from the White House. “Chasing the soul of the nation. And we must do more to protect schools from being turned into prisons.
“I’m calling on Congress, again, to pass an assault weapons ban,” he continued.
The shooter was armed with two “assault-style” rifles and a handgun when he carried out the attack at Covenant School, a private Christian school, authorities said. Police killed the shooter, identified as a 28-year-old woman, at the scene, officials said.
“It’s heartbreaking — a family’s worst nightmare — and I want to commend the police who responded so quickly within minutes and stopped the danger,” Biden said.
The president has routinely called for a ban on so-called assault weapons. He made a similar plea after a string of shootings in California earlier this year that left 18 people dead and 10 others injured.
“It’s just common sense,” Biden said in a speech earlier this month after signing an executive order that would increase enforcement of existing laws designed to prevent mass shootings.
Biden is limited in his ability to do more without Congressional action, and lawmakers disagreed with proposals to implement universal background checks for gun sales, ban assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines, and revoke immunity from liability for gun manufacturers.