Joe Biden calls for US ban on assault weapons following mass shootings

The US president has called for a ban on assault weapons following a new string of mass shootings in the country

President Joe Biden's comments came in the aftermath of 10 people being shot and killed at a grocery store in Colorado after eight people were killed at spas in Georgia the week before.

Speaking at the White House yesterday, he said: "I don't need to wait another minute, let alone an hour, to take common-sense steps that will save the lives in the future, and to urge my colleagues in the House and Senate to act.” 

Adding: "This is not and should not be a partisan issue. This is an American issue.

"It will save lives. American lives.

"And we have to act."

Biden has previously been successful in bringing in restrictions on owning assault rifles in 1994. 

The law expired a decade later. 

“It brought down these mass killing,” said Biden.

“We should do it again.”

Gun ownership and gun violence in the US is a constant issue, as the “right to bear arms” is a fundamental part of its constitution which makes it incredibly difficult to amend.

In addition, pro-gun lobby groups, such as the National Rifle Association (NRA), wield an immense amount of political and economic power; the NRA bragged about assault weapons just days before the shooting in Colorado.

Gun ownership in the US is also lethally high. There are more guns than people in the the US and, while the country makes up around 5 per cent of the world's civilian gun owner population, it accounts for 42 per cent of civilian gun ownership. According to data by the Violence Project, there have been 29 mass shootings with four or more fatalities in the last five years in the country. And the pandemic hasn't slowed down overall deaths by guns in the US, with data from the Gun Violence Archive showing near 20,000 people died from gun violence in 2020, the highest in years. The same data shows that an additional 24,000 people died by suicide with a gun.