Headline RoundupDecember 15th, 2022

A Decade After Sandy Hook, Biden Calls For More Gun Legislation

Summary from the AllSides News Team

Wednesday marks 10 years since the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre, where a gunman killed 20 first-grade students and six educators in Newtown, Connecticut. President Joe Biden honored the anniversary by renewing calls for a ban on assault-style weapons.

Key Quotes: In a statement from the White House, Biden said, “We should have societal guilt for taking too long to deal with this problem. We have a moral obligation to pass and enforce laws that can prevent these things from happening again. We owe it to the courageous, young survivors and to the families who lost part of their soul ten years ago to turn their pain into purpose.” At the time of the shooting, Biden was serving as Vice President under former president Barack Obama. Obama tweeted on Wednesday that he considers the massacre “the single darkest day of my presidency… I felt not just sorrow but anger at a world that could allow such things to happen.”

For Context: Last summer, Biden signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which expanded background check requirements and firearm purchasing restrictions. Acknowledging this bill in his statement, Biden said, “still, we must do more.”

How the Media Covered It: The anniversary, and Biden’s statement, were covered across the spectrum. An article in Breitbart drew a link between Biden’s calls for gun legislation with last week’s announcement that Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout would be freed in a prisoner exchange. Axios called the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act the “first significant gun-control policy change in years.”

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