Flood of guns is turning US communities into 'killing fields', says Biden

Washington

Vowing to reinstate a ban on assault rifles, US President Joe Biden said Monday that a flood of guns is turning US communities into "killing fields".

Calling his new gun control legislation the first significant progress in 30 years, Biden said more steps are needed to rein in US gun violence.

"This has taken too long, with too much of a trail of bloodshed and carnage," Biden said.

"The past many years, across our schools, places of worship, workplaces, stores, music festivals, nightclubs, and so many other everyday places, they have turned into killing fields."

Citing recent mass shootings at Uvalde, in which an 18-year-old killed 21 people including 19 students and two teachers, along with the one at a supermarket in Buffalo, Biden said every day there are "tragic killings that don't make the headlines."

"Neighbourhoods and streets have been turned into killing fields as well," he said.

Pledging to restore a ban on assault rifles that existed from 1994 to 2004, Biden said, "I'm determined to ban these weapons again.... I'm not going to stop until we do it."

Saying he himself did so with the shotguns he owns, Biden also called for legislation that would require gun owners to store their guns securely in homes.

"I have four shotguns... that are locked up," he said. "Every responsible gun owner that I know does that."

Pointing out that guns have become the number one killer of children across the country, Biden added that "We also have a right to live freely, without fear for our lives."

High-powered semi-automatic war weapons, which are used repeatedly in mass shootings, were sold widely across the US after a ban on assault rifles was lifted in 2005. 

(With inputs from agencies)

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