President Biden will host an event Monday marking the passage of the most significant federal gun legislation in nearly three decades and calling on Congress to do more to reduce firearms violence, per a White House statement.
Why it matters: There have been multiple mass shootings since Biden last month signed the gun safety bill that Congress swiftly passed in response to several recent shooting massacres, notably one at a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school and another at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket.
- Among more than a dozen mass shootings in the U.S. over the Fourth of July weekend was one at an Independence Day parade in Highland Park, Illinois, which killed seven people.
The big picture: Joining Biden at the White House “commemorating the historic achievement of the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act” will be survivors and family members of victims of mass shootings that have rocked the U.S. since 1999, according to the statement.
- Among them are those affected by the massacres at Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, Tucson, Sandy Hook, Parkland, Santa Fe, Uvalde, Buffalo and Highland Park — “as well as survivors and family members of daily acts of gun violence that don’t make national headlines,” the White House noted.
- Elected officials representing communities affected by gun violence across the country and gun safety advocates and experts will also be in attendance at the event — as Biden pushes Congress to reinstate the assault weapons ban, which was passed in 1994 and expired under President George W. Bush in 2004.
What they’re saying: Biden is calling on Congress to pass “legislation that would ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines, strengthen background checks, and enact safe storage laws,” the White House said in its statement.
- He’s also urging Congress to confirm Steve Dettelbach as his nominee to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in order to build on the bipartisan legislation already passed and “keep dangerous guns out of dangerous hands,” according to the White House.
- “The Biden Administration will continue to use all of the tools at its disposal to address the epidemic of gun violence,” the White House said.
Go deeper: What makes “red flag” gun laws work
