US President Joe Biden, referring to the second additional article of the Constitution, which gives the right of citizens to take up arms in the United States, said, “The second additional article was never absolute.” Biden said that after the shooting at the Texas primary school, there could be nonpartisan support for tightening restrictions on the type of assault-type weapons used by the attacker.
“Everything has gotten so bad that everyone is starting to make more sense, at least that’s what I hope,” Biden told reporters on the White House garden on his return to Washington.
Biden made this statement after a condolence visit with his wife, Jill Biden, to Uvalde, Texas, where 19 elementary school students and two teachers were killed. Biden, who was confronted with the slogans “Do something” after the service he attended at the church, promised “We will”.
Biden, who came from Delaware to the capital, Washington, for National Memorial Day events, was asked if his motivation for new federal restrictions on firearms has now increased.
“I will keep pushing”
“I already had the motivation,” said Biden.
In Congress, a group of Senators from both the Democratic and Republican Party debated whether they could reach a small consensus on gun control legislation over the weekend, after a decade of failed efforts. At the meeting, it was also discussed that states should be encouraged to pass laws that would prevent individuals with mental health problems from owning guns, which are described as “red flags”.
“The second additional article of the Constitution was never absolute,” said Biden.
Republicans in Congress do not favor the enactment of publicly-supported practices, such as the banning of assault-type weapons or the background check of those who want to buy guns. But Democrats are still hopeful that meaningful measures can be passed through Congress.
“Republicans will need to seriously address this issue”
President Biden said he did not speak to the Republicans on this issue, but expressed his opinion that “My guess is that they will need to seriously address this issue.”
Biden also said, “There’s no point in being able to buy a gun that can fire 300 rounds. These powerful guns don’t make any sense.”
Noting that he signed some presidential decrees on gun control, Biden said, “However, I cannot ban a gun and make changes about CV scans.”
Biden said he was not aware of the state of the negotiations in Congress, but said, “There is an awareness among sensible Republicans that we cannot keep repeating things over and over.”
President Biden and his wife, First Lady Jill Biden, attended mass at a church near their home in Delaware and visited the grave of their son, veteran Beau Biden, who died in 2015 to brain cancer in 2015.
After returning to the White House, the Biden couple had a National Memorial Day breakfast with a group of 130 members of ex-combat organizations, military families and senior officials of the Department of Defense.
President Biden and Jill Biden, later with Vice President Kamala Harris, Harris’ wife Doug Emhoff, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chief of Staff Mark Milley, went to Arlington Military Cemetery and laid wreaths at the Unknown Soldier Memorial.
The Bidens are also expected to plant a magnolia tree in the South Garden of the White House in memory of the soldiers who lost their lives in the battle.