Biden Marks Four-Year Anniversary of Parkland Shooting; Calls for End to Gun Violence

Washington — 

U.S. President Joe Biden Monday marked the fourth anniversary of the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida by calling on the country to uphold the “solemn obligation” to end gun violence.

“On this difficult day, we mourn with the Parkland families whose lives were upended in an instant; who had to bury a piece of their soul deep in the earth,” Biden said in a statement. “We pray too for those still grappling with wounds both visible and invisible.”

On February 14, 2018, a gunman opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, killing 17 people in the deadliest high school shooting to date. Fourteen of those killed were students, the others, educators. The gunman, Nikolas Cruz, was 19 years old at the time and a former student at the school.

Cruz pleaded guilty to the shootings last October. His sentencing trial is set to begin later this year. Jurors will decide whether he spends the rest of his life in prison or gets the death penalty.

The shooting stirred a movement, March for Our Lives, started by students advocating for stricter gun laws.

“Out of the heartbreak of Parkland a new generation of Americans all across the country marched for our lives and towards a better, safer America for us all,” Biden said, “Together, this extraordinary movement is making sure that the voices of victims and survivors and responsible gun owners are louder than the voices of gun manufacturers and the National Rifle Association.”

The NRA is America’s biggest gun rights lobby. The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution affirms the right to bear arms. In the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting, Florida, a Republican-led state, imposed a three-day waiting period to purchase firearms and raised the minimum age to buy a gun from 18 to 21. The NRA argued the state law is unconstitutional.

Since the Parkland incident, school shootings have continued. Between Aug. 1 and Dec. 31, there were 136 instances of gunfire at schools, according to gun control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety.

Biden outlined steps that his administration is following to counteract this rise, including “curbing the proliferation of ‘ghost’ guns,” unregistered firearms that can be purchased without a background check.

He called on Congress to take action saying, “Congress must do much more — beginning with requiring background checks on all gun sales, banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and eliminating immunity for gun manufacturers.”

Multiple bills to scrutinize gun buyers and restrict purchases of the deadliest weapons have been put forward in the U.S. Congress over the last decade. None became law.

Most Democratic Party lawmakers back tighter gun regulations while most Republicans oppose them, citing the Second Amendment.

Biden Renews Federal Push Against Gun Violence

US President Joe Biden traveled to New York City on Thursday to highlight a new push by his administration to combat gun violence and crime, including a crackdown on untraceable firearms, so-called ghost guns. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report.

Biden Launching Gun Violence Prevention Push

U.S. President Joe Biden is traveling to New York Thursday to highlight a new push by his administration to combat gun crime.

The White House said the initiative includes efforts to crack down on the trafficking of firearms between states, such as ones that are sold in the southeastern part of the country and are later used in crimes in areas such as New York.

The Biden administration is also launching a program to better investigate and prosecute those who use homemade guns that lack serial numbers, also known as ghost guns.

Other areas of focus are prioritizing federal prosecutions of those who unlawfully sell a gun that is later used in a violent crime and having the Justice Department partner with local and state law enforcement agencies to work on identifying and addressing the specific factors driving crime in those areas.

During Thursday’s visit, Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland are to attend an interagency gun violence meeting with New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York state Governor Kathy Hochul, and to speak with local leaders about community intervention efforts to help prevent crime.

Adams, who took office at the beginning of the year, has issued his own outline of programs to address gun violence, many focusing on similar issues such as gun trafficking and boosting youth employment and mental health services.

“We must do the work to end this epidemic of gun violence and deliver real peace and safety to our streets,” Adams tweeted Wednesday as he noted the shooting of an off-duty police officer in the city.

Two New York officers were killed in a shooting last month.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press.

California City Approves 1st US Insurance Law for Gun Owners

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA — 

A California city voted Tuesday night to require gun owners to carry liability insurance in what’s believed to be the first measure of its kind in the United States.

The San Jose City Council overwhelmingly approved the measure despite opposition from gun owners who said it would violate their Second Amendment rights and promised to sue.

The Silicon Valley city of about 1 million followed a trend of other Democratic-led cities that have sought to rein in violence through stricter rules. But while similar laws have been proposed, San Jose is the first city to pass one, according to Brady United, a national nonprofit that advocates against gun violence.

Council members, including several who had lost friends to gun violence, said it was a step toward dealing with gun violence, which Councilman Sergio Jimenez described as “a scourge on our society.”

Having liability insurance would encourage people in the 55,000 households in San Jose who legally own at least one registered gun to have gun safes, install trigger locks and take gun safety classes, Mayor Sam Liccardo said.

The liability insurance would cover losses or damages resulting from any accidental use of the firearm, including death, injury, and property damage, according to the ordinance. If a gun is stolen or lost, the owner of the firearm would be considered liable until the theft or loss is reported to authorities.

However, gun owners who don’t have insurance won’t lose their guns or face any criminal charges, the mayor said.

The council also voted to require gun owners to pay an estimated $25 fee, which would be collected by a yet-to-be-named nonprofit and doled out to community groups to be used for firearm safety education and training, suicide prevention, domestic violence, and mental health services.

The proposed ordinance is part of a broad gun control plan that Liccardo announced following the May 26 mass shooting at the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority rail yard that left nine people dead, including the employee who opened fire on his colleagues and then killed himself.

At an hourslong meeting, critics argued that the fee and liability requirements violated their right to bear arms and would do nothing to stop gun crimes, including the use of untraceable build-it-yourself “ghost guns.”

“You cannot tax a constitutional right. This does nothing to reduce crime,” one speaker said.

The measure didn’t address the massive problem of illegally obtained weapons that are stolen or purchased without background checks.

Liccardo acknowledged those concerns.

“This won’t stop mass shootings and keep bad people from committing violent crime,” the mayor said, but he added that most gun deaths nationally are from suicide, accidental shootings or other causes and that many homicides stem from domestic violence.

Liccardo also said gun violence costs San Jose taxpayers $40 million a year in emergency response services.

Some speakers argued that the law would face costly and lengthy court challenges.

Before the vote, Sam Paredes, executive director of Gun Owners of California, said his group would sue if the proposal took effect, calling it “totally unconstitutional in any configuration.”

However, Liccardo said some attorneys had already offered to defend the city pro bono.