(Washington) US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday, the day after another school shooting, the majority of Americans find it “weird” to own assault rifles, military-style weapons regularly used in this type of massacres.
“Most Americans think owning assault rifles is weird, it’s a crazy idea. They are against it,” he told reporters, in response to questions about the tragedy that unfolded Monday in Nashville, in the southern United States.
A former student, armed with two assault rifles and a pistol, killed three 9-year-old children and three adults in a school, before being shot dead by the police.
Joe Biden has expressed his dismay at Congress’ inaction on assault rifles – the legal possession of which – like the popular AR-15, declaring himself helpless on the issue.
“I used the full extent of my executive power to act on the weapons myself. Congress must act,” he said. “I can’t do anything except implore Congress to act responsibly. »
The Democrat recalled that assault rifles were banned in the United States for ten years, between 1994 and 2004. The measure was passed with the help of then-Senator Joe Biden by the administration of President Bill Clinton .
“The last time we banned assault rifles, the violence went down,” he said.
The United States, where killings are regular, has more individual weapons than inhabitants.
The AR-15s, which resemble the rifles of American soldiers, are particularly sought after by amateurs. More than 24 million such guns were in circulation in the country as of mid-2022, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a firearms industry trade organization.
Joe Biden’s call is unlikely to result in a ban on such weapons by Congress. Republicans, who control the House of Representatives, are fiercely opposed.
47% of Americans are in favor of such a measure, but 51% are against, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll in February.
And some 16 million people, or about one in 20 Americans, own at least one AR-15 type rifle, according to another survey, this time aimed at gun owners, by the washington post and Ipsos.