President Biden Calls On Congress To Enact Commonsense Gun Law Reforms

Sunday marked the third anniversary of the tragic Parkland shooting. The same day, President Joe Biden called on Congress to institute “commonsense gun law reforms.”

According to CNN, the reforms would include widespread firearm sales background checks and a ban on assault weapons.

“Today, I am calling on Congress to enact commonsense gun law reforms, including requiring background checks on all gun sales, banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and eliminating immunity for gun manufacturers who knowingly put weapons of war on our streets,” Biden said in a statement.

“This administration will not wait for the next mass shooting to heed that call,” the statement reads. “We will take action to end our epidemic of gun violence and make our schools and communities safer.”

Three years ago, a gunman opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Seventeen people were killed in the massacre.

Survivors of that tragedy have since come forward to speak out against gun violence and prompt lawmakers to issue gun safety reforms.

Some Democrats feel that gun safety reforms are within reach for the first time in decades. But to make progress on Biden’s plan, 10 Republicans would have to join the cause.

“I’m feeling more confident than I have been at any time in the United States Senate about gun violence legislation,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat. The senator has been a vocal advocate of gun safety reform since the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. That tragedy left 20 children and six adults dead.

As for now, the main focus has been on background checks and safe storage. However, the Democrats are hoping to push other “possible” proposals.

Blumenthal hopes to see gun law discussions within the “next few weeks.” which would be after the passage of Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package.

“Now, working with the Democratic Senate and Biden-Harris Administration, we will enact these and other life-saving bills and deliver the progress that the Parkland community and the American people deserve and demand,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, said in a statement.

Congress has had many issues in addressing gun violence in America, even with the many mass shootings that have taken place across the country.

Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia and proud legal gun owner, and Sen. Pat Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican, have long supported a background check agenda that failed passage twice within the last decade. The only other Republican to support the plan still serving in the Senate, in addition to Toomey, is Maine GOP Sen. Susan Collins. It is still unknown if there could be enough Republicans on board to pass it again.

Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut and an advocate for gun reforms, said it’s his hope “that we’ll be able to move a background checks bill shortly after this burst of initial activity is done,” in which he referred to the Covid-19 relief. He also noted he has started to have some very early conversations with Toomey and other members of Congress.

Biden’s statement also mentioned the personal toll the Parkland tragedy has had on the families of victims, saying that “like far too many families — and, indeed, like our nation — they’ve been left to wonder whether things would ever be okay.”

“We owe it to all those we’ve lost and to all those left behind to grieve to make a change,” he said. “The time to act is now.”