At a White House event on July 11th, President Joe Biden hosted survivors and families of casualties of mass shootings, highlighting the new Bipartisan Safer Communities Act that points towards preventing such mass shootings.
Before hosting the occasion, Biden tweeted to the general public to share with him their accounts of gun violence and what it has meant for their communities, hoping to promote how the new regulations will assist in halting this brutality.
Biden commemorated the law, viewing it as the most remarkable firearm regulation act in 30 years.
He repeatedly emphasised that more needs to be done, but that the law is a significant start in the right direction. Biden said he's determined to ban those weapons. Apart from these propositions, he has also called upon Congress to pass universal background checks and verifications and safe storage measures for guns that would make the owners liable for not safely locking up and securing their guns.
The president was joined by elected partisans from major groups impacted by weapon violence as well as other gun safety advocates.
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act
- The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act provides $13 billion for new spending for psychological and mental wellness programs and for securing school perimeters.
- It makes background checks and personal investigations stricter for arms buyers under 21.
- It assists with shutting the escape clause and ensnares domestic abuse offenders from buying firearms.
- It strengthens red flag laws and warning regulations to eliminate guns from individuals considered to be a threat to themselves or others.
Biden’s Bipartisan Safer Communities Act pushes for cash grants to states for "red flag laws,” upgrades personal and background investigations by including juvenile and adolescent records, and abandons the "boyfriend loophole" by distancing weapons from non-spouse dating couples that have previously been convicted of abuse.
Be that as it may, the Bipartisan Safer Communities law still lacks as it doesn't cover all the bases needed, including universal background checks and a complete prohibition of assault weapons and high capacity magazines.
A Bill to Act
A few Democrats and Republicans drafted the law following the shootings in May in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas. Yet, the bill excluded two of Biden's primary clauses: a ban on attack weapons and a background check for all those intending to buy guns. Both these provisions were resisted by Republicans.
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act came into regulation last month. However, the signing was marred since it came one day after the Supreme Court delivered its judgement to overturn Row vs Wade, restricting women’s rights to abortion. The law likewise came one week after the mass shooting at a Fourth of July Independence Day parade in Highland Park, Illinois, which left seven dead and many injured.
A White House Celebration
Exactly one week after the Highland Park shooting, almost to the hour, President Biden took to the podium on the South Lawn of the White House with a ribbon on his lapel to pay his respects to the gun violence victims.
Soon after he began speaking, Manuel Oliver, the father of the 17-year-old victim of the Parkland mass shooting, intruded on Biden's comments with clear dissent. Oliver openly condemned the regulation especially it being called a celebration, especially in the light of the recent Texas elementary school shooting that killed 2 teachers and 19 kids.
"We need to accomplish more than that!" Oliver yelled. He also added how he'd been attempting to let the authorities know about this for quite a long time.
Even though the president requested to “Let him talk," prior to going on with his prepared speech, eventually the heckler was dragged away by a staff member.
Various other advocacy groups, led by Guns Down America were quoted saying that they would have a counter event outside the White House to push Biden to lay out a separate office at the White House to address all weapon viciousness with immediacy.
As the president celebrated the law as a step in the right direction, he also requested that Congress act further by legislating a complete ban.
Today, we're living in a world flooded with guns and weapons. Weapons that were intended to hunt are not being utilized; the weapons that are being purchased are, in fact, weapons of war, planned to take out a foe. What is the point of such widespread distribution and easy accessibility of these weapons outside conflict and disaster zones?
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