Joe Biden promised on Monday to “keep pushing” for stricter gun regulation, a demand that is growing in the country, still upset by the Uvalde killings last week. last.
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The US president, who visited the Texas town yesterday and spent several hours with families of victims, said “the pain was palpable”.
On Tuesday, 19 children – aged between 9 and 11 – and two female teachers were killed at Robb Elementary School by the bullets of a teenager, plunging America back into the recurring nightmare of school shootings.
“I have always had the will” to act on weapons, he told reporters, assuring that he would “continue to push”.
“It doesn’t make sense to be able to buy something that can fire up to 300 bullets,” he added.
Negotiations are taking place between elected Democrats and Republicans to try to find a compromise on this thorny issue, on which Joe Biden has so far failed to legislate.
The Democratic president clarified on Monday that he himself did not participate in these discussions.
But “I believe things have gotten so bad that it makes everyone more rational about it,” he hoped.
The United States still experienced several shootings over the weekend, which left four people dead and dozens injured, according to a tally by the Gun Violence Archive website.
It was a long weekend – Monday being a public holiday to celebrate “Memorial Day” – which usually leads to higher numbers of this type of violence, especially during the hot months of the year.
Six teenagers were injured on Saturday evening in Chattanooga, Tennessee, “during what appears to be an altercation with other young people,” tweeted the city’s mayor, Tim Kelly.
Another shooting on Sunday left one dead and seven injured, including a child, at a festival in Taft, Oklahoma, state authorities said.
In Texas, Uvalde, still traumatized by the attack at her school, was preparing to bury the 21 victims.
The funeral will begin Tuesday, and will extend until mid-June.
One of the first ceremonies will be that of Amerie Jo Garza, a little girl who had just celebrated her tenth birthday when she was killed.
