Boulder shooting puts pressure on Biden to secure new gun laws

The second deadly U.S. mass shooting a week apart from the first is putting new pressure on President Joe Biden to deliver on the gun control promises he made as a candidate.

The assault, which took place in a busy supermarket in Colorado on Monday, took 10 lives, including that of a police officer, just six days after another gunman fatally shot eight people at Atlanta-area day spas.

“I don’t need to wait another minute – let alone an hour – to take common-sense steps that will save the lives in the future, and I urge my colleagues in the House and Senate to act,” Biden said at the White House on Tuesday.

Biden, however, faces an uphill battle in winning congressional passage of gun-related measures that he pledged during his presidential campaign.

“As president, I promise you I will get these weapons of war off the street again,” Biden had said at a rally, referring to a national ban on assault-style weapons that lapsed in 2004.

Biden has long embraced gun control. As vice president under President Barack Obama, Biden was instrumental in seeking congressional approval of legislation after a 2012 mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school. As a Presidential candidate, Biden had pledged to hold gun makers accountable in the courts for firearms violence, to sign new laws restricting assault weapons and to expand background checks for gun sales.

The United States, which has the world’s highest rate of civilian gun ownership, shows more than 43,000 U.S. gun deaths last year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

The numerous mass shootings have failed to prompt lawmakers to pass gun control legislation, owing to opposition from congressional Republicans and the NRA. With the right to bear arms being enshrined in the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment, many Americans cherish gun rights.

Nearly 70% of Americans support adding federal gun restrictions and ideas such as background checks and databases to track ownership have even greater public support, a 2019 poll found.

Biden’s fellow Democrats hold only slim majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

The House had passed two bills on March 11 that would broaden background checks for gun buyers, however their future is uncertain. Most legislation requires 60 votes in the 100-seat chamber to move forward. With Republicans holding 50 seats, reaching that threshold appears difficult.

Although Biden has not put forth his own legislation, he urged the Senate to to approve the House-passed bills and also advocated a ban on assault-style weapons on Tuesday.

“This is not and should not be a partisan issue. This is an American issue. It will save lives – American lives – and we have to act,” Biden said.

A Senate panel held a hearing on gun issues on Tuesday.

We can ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

We can close loopholes in our gun background check system.

This is not a partisan issue — it’s an American issue that will save lives. Congress needs to act.

— President Biden Archived (@POTUS46Archive) March 23, 2021