President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting with senators from both parties at the White House on Feb. 11, 2021.
Doug Mills-Pool / Getty Images
President Joe Biden on Sunday called on Congress to strengthen gun laws on the third anniversary of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting in Parkland, Florida.
“Today, as we mourn the Parkland community, we mourn all those who have lost loved ones through gun violence,” Biden said in a White House statement.
The president called for several provisions, including background checks on all weapons sales, a ban on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, and the elimination of legal immunity for weapon manufacturers.
“This government will not wait for the next mass shooting to heed that call. We will take action to end our epidemic of gun violence and make our schools and communities safer,” said Biden. “We owe it to all who have lost and to all who remain behind to mourn to change anything.”
Fourteen students and three staff were killed in the shooting in Parkland. The student survivors started the March for Our lives movement in support of gun control law.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Said in a statement Sunday that Congress would work with the Biden administration to establish two background check bills. The House passed the Bipartisan Background Checks Act and the Enhanced Background Checks Act at the last Congress.
“In this solemn commemoration, the Democrats are joining the American people to renew our commitment to our unfinished work to ensure that no family or community is forced to endure the pain of gun violence,” Pelosi said. “We will not rest until all Americans, in schools, in the workplace, in places of worship, and in our communities, are once and for all safe.”
Susan Rice, the head of the White House Interior Policy Council, and Cedric Richmond, a senior adviser to Biden, hosted a virtual meeting with gun violence prevention advocacy leaders last week to discuss ways to reduce gun violence.