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US President Calls for Reform in Gun Laws

The President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, has called on the US Congress to enact “commonsense” gun law reforms. This is coming three years after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida.

The president stated this on Sunday in memory of the 2018 Valentine’s Day shooting, which left 17 people dead and brought fresh attention to America’s lax gun laws.

According to him, “This administration will not wait for the next mass shooting to heed that call.”

“We will take action to end our epidemic of gun violence and make our schools and communities safer.”

Biden urged Congress to enact laws that would impose background checks on all gun sales and ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

It would be recalled that the confessed school shooter, Nikolas Cruz, who was 19 at the time, was armed with an AR-15-style rifle and fired between 100 and 150 rounds in a rampage that killed 14 students and three adult staff at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Biden said Congress must also withdraw “immunity for gun manufacturers who knowingly put weapons of war on our streets,” as Cruz was able to buy the assault rifle legally, despite having known mental health problems.

Although the country has witnessed mass shootings and gun violence, the Florida shooting spurred rage across the US and provoked new firearms control needs.

The Democratic Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, while reacting to the request, said the House would try again to deliver what Americans demand and deserve.

She noted that with Donald Trump in the White House and the Republicans controlling the Senate at the time, legislation approved by the Democrats in the House of Representatives went nowhere.

“We will enact these and other life-saving bills and deliver the progress that the Parkland community and the American people deserve and demand,” she said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the President, Joe Biden, has charged the Congress that “The time to act is now.”

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