Biden renews call for updated assault weapons ban: ‘We have to act’

President Joe Biden on Tuesday reiterated his call for Congress to pass an updated version of the ban on military-style semiautomatic rifles that was a centrepiece of the 1994 anti-crime legislation he authored as a senator.

Mr Biden renewed his call for an updated assault weapons ban at an event in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to highlight what his administration is calling the “Safer America Plan”. He said banning the types of military-style rifles that have become the weapon of choice for mass shooters in recent years would be a “common-sense action” that builds on the Safer Communities Act — the first gun control legislation to pass Congress in decades — which he signed into law earlier this year.

“We took on the NRA — we're gonna take them on again — and we won and we will win again. We're not stopping here,” he said, adding that he was “determined to ban assault weapons in this country”.

Referring to his work on the expired assault weapons ban enacted as part of the Omnibus Crime Control Act of 1994, the president said he “did it once before” and would “do it again”.

Many Republicans have claimed that a renewed assault weapons ban would mean the US government would forcibly take lawfully-purchased firearms away from law-abiding owners. But Mr Biden stressed that re-enacting a ban on semiautomatic rifles that are civilian versions of the arms issued to soldiers across the world would not mean taking away those already in Americans’ possession.

“I want to be clear: It's not about taking away anybody's guns. In fact, we should be treated responsible gun owners as examples how every gun owner should behave,” he said, adding that he owns two shotguns himself.

Mr Biden urged those who oppose such a measure to speak to the parents of children murdered in mass shootings in which the killer chose a high-powered rifle as his weapon.

“We have to act for those families in Buffalo, Uvalde, Newtown, El Paso, Parkland, Charleston, Las Vegas, Orlando,” he said, rattling off a list of some of the deadliest mass killings to occur in the US over the last few years.

“We're living in a country of what awash with weapons of war — weapons that weren't designed to hunt,” he continued, adding that the guns he spoke of were “designed to take on an enemy.”

He asked: “For God's sake, what's the rationale for these weapons outside of a war zone?”

The president noted that soldiers receive “significant training” before being allowed to wield such weapons, plus “extensive background checks” and assessments of their mental health.

“They have to learn how to lock up and store their weapons responsibly or they get kicked out. But we let any stranger — any 18 year old walk in ... and buy an AR-15,” he said.

He said the expiration of the 1994 ban he championed has allowed mass shootings to triple, and said it was once again time to ban such weapons.

“We did it before, we can do it again,” he said.