Biden slams Republicans, firearms industry for crime wave as he calls for gun-control measures
NEW YORK — President Biden blamed lax gun ownership laws Thursday for the crime wave hitting New York City and other communities, insisting that Second Amendment rights were never meant to be absolute but saying nothing about the progressive crime policies of new District Attorney Alvin Bragg that many here blame for the surge of violence in the city.
In a meeting with New York Mayor Eric Adams and other Democratic officials, Mr. Biden criticized the “resistance” to gun control measures by Republicans in Congress, state legislatures, gun manufacturers and other gun-rights advocates as the primary culprit for the rising violence of the past two years.
The president called for universal background checks, a crackdown on so-called “ghost guns” and bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, saying of the Second Amendment guarantee of the right to bear arms that “there’s no amendment that’s absolute.”
“When the [Second Amendment] was passed, it didn’t say anybody can own a gun,” Mr. Biden said. “When the amendment was passed, … you couldn’t buy a cannon … and so there’s no reason why you should be able to buy certain assault weapons.”
He pointed to the shooting deaths of two New York police officers, Jason Rivera and Wilbert Mora, during a domestic disturbance call in Harlem on Jan. 21. Mr. Biden said the gunman had a stolen firearm with a 40-round magazine capacity.
“It’s really a weapon of war,” the president said. “Enough is enough. I don’t see any rationale why there should be such a weapon able to be purchased. That doesn’t violate anybody’s Second Amendment rights to deny that.”