Biden says it’s ‘time to outlaw’ AR-15 after Trump assassination attempt

President Joe Biden renewed his demand for Congress to ban high-powered firearms like the AR-15-style rifle that a gunman used to shoot Donald Trump.

“An AR-15 was used in the shooting of Donald Trump, just as other assault weapons were used to kill so many others, including children,” he said in remarks to the NAACP’s 115th national convention in Las Vegas on Tuesday. “It’s time to outlaw them. I did it once and I will do it again.”

The Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act, which imposed the so-called assault weapons ban, was enacted in 1994. That law expired in 2004, and Congress has repeatedly decided not to renew it.

Biden repeated his call to “lower the temperature” in American politics and to “reject violence of any kind,” including the attempted assassination of his Republican rival, threats to Black election workers, and the victims of gun violence “that never make the news.”

“If we’re gonna speak about violence, we’re gonna speak about guns. More children in America died of gunshot wounds than any other reason. That is sick,” he said.

“And it’s sheer cowardice if we do nothing about it,” Biden added. “So, you wanna stand against violence in America, then join me in getting these weapons of war off the streets of America. An AR-15 was used in the shooting of Donald Trump, just as other assault weapons used to kill so many others, including children. It’s time to outlaw them. I did it once and I will do it again.”

Since taking office, Biden has made more than 70 unanswered calls to Congress to renew the assault weapons ban, which would target the most popular gun in America.

The 20-year-old suspected gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, could legally purchase rifles like the AR-15 in Pennsylvania,