WASHINGTON, June 3, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - US President Joe Biden on Thursday made
a fervent appeal for lawmakers to pass tougher gun control laws, including a
ban on assault weapons, to curb a scourge of mass shootings turning American
communities into "killing fields."

Biden made the 17-minute address -- his latest call for tougher firearms
measures -- with 56 lighted candles arrayed along a long corridor behind him,
representing US states and territories suffering from gun violence.

"How much more carnage are we willing to accept?" the president asked in the
speech, which he delivered with anger in his voice, and at times dipping
close to a whisper.

"We can't fail the American people again," he said, condemning the refusal of
a majority of Republican senators to support tougher laws as
"unconscionable."

At a minimum, Biden said, lawmakers should raise the age at which assault
weapons can be purchased from 18 to 21.

He also urged them to take steps including strengthening background checks,
banning high-capacity magazines, mandating safe storage of firearms, and
allowing gun manufacturers to be held liable for crimes committed with their
products.

"Over the last two decades, more school-age children have died from guns than
on-duty police officers and active duty military combined. Think about that,"
Biden said.

He highlighted the story of a young student who smeared a dead classmate's
blood on herself to hide from a gunman at a Texas elementary school, saying:
"Imagine what it would be like for her to walk down the hallway of any school
again."

"There are too many other schools, too many other everyday places that have
become killing fields, battlefields here in America," Biden said.

While Republican lawmakers have largely resisted tougher gun laws, a cross-
party group of US senators held talks Thursday on a package of firearms
controls.

Nine senators have been meeting this week to discuss a response to the mass
shootings that have appalled the nation, projecting optimism over the
prospects for modest reforms.

The group has focused on school security, bolstering mental health services
and incentives for states to grant courts "red flag" authority to temporarily
remove guns from owners considered a threat -- a measure Biden also called
for in his remarks.

- Hospital attack -

Even as lawmakers were mulling a response to the racist murder of 10 Black
supermarket shoppers in Buffalo and the school shooting in Texas that killed
19 children and two teachers, another attack took place in Oklahoma on
Wednesday.

A man with a pistol and a rifle murdered two doctors, a receptionist and a
patient in a Tulsa hospital complex before killing himself as police arrived.

Lawmakers are aware that they risk wasting momentum as the urgency for
reforms sparked by the killings dissipates, and another smaller group of
senators is holding parallel discussions on expanding background checks on
gun sales.

The political challenge of legislating in a 50-50 Senate, where most bills
require 60 votes to pass, means that more wide-ranging reforms are
unrealistic.

Mitch McConnell, leader of the Senate Republicans, told reporters that
senators were trying to "target the problem" -- which he said was "mental
illness and school safety" rather than the availability of firearms.

House Democrats are nevertheless set to pass a much broader but largely
symbolic "Protecting Our Kids Act," which calls for raising the purchasing
age for semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21 and a ban on high-capacity
magazines.

The package will likely pass the Democratic-led House next week before dying
amid Republican opposition in the Senate.

With regulation being so difficult at the federal level, an effort is also
underway among state legislatures to push for tighter gun laws.

California lawmakers advanced a gun control package in the aftermath of the
Uvalde shooting that included proposals to open up gunmakers to civil legal
liability in certain cases.

The proposals echo action by lawmakers in New York state, while a permit-to-
buy bill is moving through the Delaware legislature and pro-gun rights Texas
is looking to "make legislative recommendations" in response to the Uvalde
shooting.

Activists for greater restrictions fear a setback at the federal level
however as the Supreme Court is set to issue its first major Second Amendment
opinion in more than a decade.

Justices are expected to rule in the coming weeks in a dispute over New York
state's stringent limits on the concealed carry of handguns outside the home.

A narrow opinion could affect just a few states with similar laws, but
campaigners fear the conservative majority will make a broader ruling
clearing the way for constitutional challenges to gun safety laws across the
country.