Biden marks anniversary of Uvalde shooting: ‘It’s time to act’

President Biden on Wednesday marked the anniversary of a mass shooting at a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school that left 19 children dead, offering sympathy to the families of the victims and pleading yet again for Congress to take action to stop the epidemic of gun violence in the United States.

“Too many schools, too many everyday places have become killing fields in communities all across every part of America,” Biden said in remarks at the White House. “And in each place, you hear the same message: Do something. For God’s sake, please, do something.”

Biden noted that Congress passed a bipartisan gun safety bill last summer in the wake of the Uvalde shooting and a mass shooting just days earlier in Buffalo, N.Y., but lamented that it was “not nearly enough.”

He called on Congress to ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines, establish universal background checks and red flag laws that allow authorities to confiscate weapons from individuals deemed a threat to themselves or others, and end immunity for gun manufacturers to avoid liability.