“When I became president, I hoped that I wouldn’t have to go through that again.” United States President Joe Biden expressed his pain and grief late Tuesday afternoon at the attack on Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, a town with 16,000 inhabitants in the state of Texas. An 18-year-old killed 18 children and two adults, including a teacher, at the center, according to Texas state police.
Biden has used his condolences to also send a clear message for greater control over firearms sales and use, noting that industry lobbyists have a responsibility to prevent greater regulation. “Weapons manufacturers have spent two decades aggressively marketing assault weapons that bring them the most profit,” he said, adding, “For heaven’s sake, when are we going to face the gun lobby?”
Biden has recalled other similar massacres he has witnessed in the past, noting that 10 years have passed since he went to a school in Newtown, Connecticut, for a similar massacre when he was Vice President of the United States and 20 children had been murdered at the school’s Sandy Hook Elementary.
“I’m fed up. We have to act and don’t tell me we can take action against these butcher shops. I’ve spent my career as a Senator and Vice President passing sound gun laws. We can’t prevent all tragedies, but we know “that they work and have a positive impact if we pass an assault weapon ban. Mass shootings went down and when the law expired they tripled. The idea that an 18-year-old boy can walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is easy wrong,” said the President.
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Joe Biden promoted a rule banning assault weapons and high-powered cartridges in 1994 while he was a Delaware Senator. Bill Clinton signed it and it was in effect until 2004 when George W. Bush repealed it. Last Tuesday in Buffalo, the President told victims of the supermarket massacre that steps can be taken to reduce the risk of this type of massacre happening again.
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Recalling that he had just arrived from Asia, Biden noted the uniqueness of the United States, as no other country has such a frequency of incidents of this nature. “Why do we have to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting it happen? We must have the courage to face this and stand up to the industry,” Biden added. “The majority of Americans support sensible gun laws,” he argued.
“Losing a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped out,” said the emotional president, whose son Beau died of cancer and who lost another daughter and first wife in a traffic accident. “The emptiness in my chest. You feel like it’s absorbing you and you can never get out,” he said.
Two kills in 10 days
The Uvalde massacre is the second in the United States in just 10 days after last Saturday, May 14, another 18-year-old killed 10 people in a supermarket in the city of Buffalo, New York, in this case on racial grounds. Biden traveled to offer his condolences to loved ones.
The school where the massacre occurred this Tuesday has 90% Hispanic students, many of whom are a vulnerable demographic facing economic difficulties. The murderer shot by the police had just turned 18.
Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris during her speech in Washington on Tuesday. SHAWN THEW / SWIMMING POOL (EFE)
Shortly before, the Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris, spoke about the Uvalde massacre in the state of Texas. “Every time a tragedy like this happens, our hearts break and our broken hearts are nothing compared to the broken hearts of these families,” the vice president said.
“Enough now. As a nation, we must have the courage to act (…) to ensure something like this doesn’t happen again,” Harris said in an intervention at the annual gala of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies.