US President Joe Biden held an event at the White House this week celebrating the passage and the signing of the bipartisan gun safety legislation into law. During his remarks, Biden reiterated the call to ban assault weapons altogether following the mass shootings that have plagued the country.
Biden addressed the attendees at the White House event that celebrated the bipartisan gun safety law. Vice President Kamala Harris, members of Congress who voted for the legislation, and the family members of some of the victims of the mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, Uvalde, Texas, and Highland Park, Illinois.
In his remarks, Biden said more still needed to be done to curb gun violence in the country, reiterating his call to ban assault weapons, which are known to be the type of weapons used by the gunmen in the recent shootings.
“Assault weapons need to be banned,” said Biden in his address. “I’m determined to ban these weapons again.”
The US leader added that lawmakers should include safe storage laws that would require personal liability for improper storage of firearms. Many gun advocates have often used the 2nd Amendment in the US constitution to justify having firearms, with the gun lobby becoming a major donor to Republican lawmakers.
The US leader said he supports the constitutional protections, but “the right to bear arms is not an absolute right to dominate all others.”
In the bipartisan gun safety law, help will be given to states to keep guns from people deemed a danger to themselves or others, as well as blocking gun sales to those convicted of domestic abuse of unmarried partners while cracking down on gun sales to those who are convicted of domestic abuse.
In other related news, Biden, Harris, and NASA administrator Bill Nelson shared the first images taken by the NASA James Webb Space Telescope, giving a new look into the universe. The US leader praised the photo for its representation of the country and the impact of science.
The reveal by the White House comes ahead of the space agency’s event to unveil the rest of the images taken by the telescope on Tuesday.