Biden demands ‘societal guilt’ on 10th anniversary of Sandy Hook massacre
WASHINGTON — President Biden said Wednesday there should be “societal guilt” on the 10th anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre for the failure of legislation to ban “assault weapons.”
Twenty six- and seven-year-olds and six adults were murdered at the school in Newtown, Conn. on Dec. 14, 2012. The gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, killed his own mother and used her legally owned Bushmaster AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle to carry out the slaughter before killing himself.
“Ten years ago today … our nation watched as the unthinkable happened,” Biden said in a statement. “We should have societal guilt for taking too long to deal with this problem.”
Biden was vice president at the time of the shooting and later headed an Obama administration gun-policy task force.
“We have a moral obligation to pass and enforce laws that can prevent these things from happening again. We owe it to the courageous, young survivors and to the families who lost part of their soul ten years ago to turn their pain into purpose,” Biden said Wednesday.
“A few months ago, I signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act into law. We’ve reined in so-called ghost guns which have no serial numbers and are harder to trace. We’ve cracked down on gun trafficking and increased resources for violence prevention.”
“Still, we must do more. I am determined to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines like those used at Sandy Hook and countless other mass shootings in America,” Biden went on.
“Enough is enough. Our obligation is clear. We must eliminate these weapons that have no purpose other than to kill people in large numbers. It is within our power to do this — for the sake of not only the lives of the innocents lost, but for the survivors who still hope.”
AR-15s are popular among gun enthusiasts for self-defense but they also are the weapon of choice for mass shootings. There are estimated to be between 10 million and 20 million legally owned AR-15-style guns in the US.
In May, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos used a Daniel Defense AR-15-style rifle to murder 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
Semiautomatic rifles were also used to murder 49 people in 2016 at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, 60 people in 2017 at a country music festival in Las Vegas, 26 people in 2017 at a church near San Antonio, 23 people in 2019 at an El Paso Walmart store and 10 people this past May at a Buffalo grocery store.
Support for gun control generally breaks along party lines, though then-President Donald Trump shocked gun rights advocates in 2018 by expressing a willingness to enact reforms in response to the murder of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., by 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, who used a legally purchased AR-15-style rifle.
Trump endorsed a higher age limit for semiautomatic rifles, background checks for private gun sales and reforms to let police “take the guns first, go through due process second” to reduce the risk posed by mentally ill people.
“I like taking the guns early,” Trump said at the time. “Like, in this crazy man’s case that just took place in Florida. He had a lot of firearms; they saw everything. To go to court would have taken a long time. You could do exactly what you’re saying, but take the guns first, go through due process second.”
The Trump administration also banned so-called “bump stocks,” which hasten the firing rate of semiautomatic rifles, in response to the Las Vegas concert massacre.
Biden signed bipartisan legislation in June that mandated enhanced background checks for young adults who buy guns and gave states incentive to pass so-called “red flag” laws that allow for the temporary confiscation of guns from people alleged to present a safety threat.
Congress in 1994 passed a 10-year ban on “assault weapons,” including semiautomatic guns, as part of a broader crime law authored by then-Senator Biden. The legislation was blamed for causing “mass incarceration” by implementing and encouraging states to adopt harsh criminal penalties.
Last year, 35 Senate Democrats introduced an assault weapon ban but it failed to gain traction.
It’s unlikely that more gun control legislation will pass Congress in the near future, with Republicans more favorable to gun rights retaking control of the House next month.
