Biden claims that American kids are suffering like combat soldiers and calls for new gun laws.

On Friday, President Biden argued vehemently in favor of stricter gun control measures, claiming that American schoolchildren who are victims of massacres experience the same anguish as combatants.

One year has passed since a bipartisan bill to restrict access to firearms was passed, and Mr. Biden honored the occasion by speaking at a summit on firearm safety in Hartford, Connecticut, that was attended by victims of gun violence. But he added that more needed to be done.

Mr. Biden questioned, "What's the difference between the post-traumatic stress disorder a soldier encounters in the hills of Afghanistan and the trauma a fourth-grader encounters in a classroom when they have to duck and cover?

Despite a string of horrific shootings in the US, Mr. Biden's demand for action comes at a time of profound pessimism about the likelihood of meaningful congressional movement on gun regulation.

Democrats were unable to implement an assault weapons prohibition during Vice President Biden's first two years in office, despite having majorities in both chambers of Congress. Given that the Republican Party currently controls the House and is largely united against new gun control laws, any attempt is almost guaranteed to fail.

But Mr. Biden asserted on Friday that Congress needs to find a way to make the restrictions more stringent.

We need a new Congress, Mr. Biden declared, "if this Congress refuses to act."

A mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, which left 19 children and two teachers dead, inspired a bipartisan group of senators to reach a limited agreement one year ago.

The bill increased background checks for gun purchases, allocated millions of dollars for states to spend on intervention programs like drug and mental health courts, and implemented red flag laws that permit authorities to temporarily seize guns from anyone deemed too dangerous to possess them by a judge.

According to Mr. Biden, the Department of Justice has given states more than $230 million to expand these laws, and the Department of Health and Human Services has given states more than $1.5 billion to hire 14,000 mental health experts for schools.

The measure, according to Mr. Biden, is already having an impact on violent crime in America, but he only referred to it as a "first step."

The impartial Council on Criminal Justice looked at patterns in 35 locations and discovered that killings, gun assaults, and domestic violence incidents all decreased somewhat in 2022 compared to the previous year. As of late May, The Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit research organization that keeps tabs on gun violence using police reports, media coverage, and other public sources, had recorded more than 260 mass shootings. According to the organisation, a mass shooting is any incident in which at least four people were killed or injured, and in 2017, there were 647 of these shootings.

I can't even count the number of times I've shaken hands with attendees at national events and been told, "I'm scared there has been another shooting not far from where I live. Mr. Biden remarked, "I'm afraid to send my child to school. It has had a significant impact.

As the campaign for 2024 heats up, Peter Ambler, the executive director of Giffords, the gun control organization founded by former Arizona representative Gabrielle Giffords, said gun control is a hot topic.

Joe Biden and the Democrats have produced results on this topic, according to Mr. Ambler. "I think the White House realizes how important this issue is to the American public," he added.

In March, Vice President Biden declared that he had "gone the full extent of my executive authority to do, on my own, anything about guns," adding that Congress had the onus of taking action. This week, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre hinted that the administration would take extra measures but she did not elaborate.

Ms. Jean-Pierre stated, "We're always going to think of what extra we can do to protect communities. "So that is something that we're — that our team will definitely look at," the speaker said.