The grief is still suffocating, the anger still visceral, President Biden said Tuesday, in Monterey Park, Ca., where a gunman stormed a dance hall and killed 11 in January. He announced fresh federal measures to curb gun violence but declared there must be more. “Do something. Do something big,” he said, reports the Associated Press. “I’m determined to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines,” Biden told the families of some of the victims, along with the 26-year-old who wrestled the semiautomatic pistol away from the gunman. Biden’s rhetoric has grown ever stronger about guns — he routinely calls for banning assault weapons — in pushing a gun-control platform even tougher than during his vice presidency in the Obama administration. He has been emboldened by the midterm elections, when his regular talk of gun control didn’t result in major Democratic losses. He is expected to continue to argue for strong changes as he moves toward a 2024 reelection run,.
"We remember and mourn today,” Biden said in Monterey Park. “But I’m here with you today to act.” The president said he’d signed an executive order aimed at stiffening background checks to buy guns, promoting more secure firearms storage and ensuring law enforcement agencies get more out of a bipartisan gun control law enacted last summer. Biden has only limited power to go beyond that legislation that was passed after the killings of 10 shoppers at a Buffalo grocery store and 19 students and two teachers at a Uvalde, Tx., elementary school. “President Biden’s executive order today is a home run for public safety,” said John Feinblatt of Everytown for Gun Safety. “This is the latest example of President Biden’s leadership on gun safety, and we’re proud to stand with him as he takes robust action to help close the gun-seller loophole — which will significantly expand background checks on gun sales, keep weapons out of the hands of dangerous people and save lives.”
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