Biden renews call to ban assault weapons as mass shootings rise again

US President Joe Biden has renewed his call to ban assault weapons.

"I'm going to try to get rid of assault weapons," Biden told reporters during a visit to firefighters in Nantucket, Massachusetts on Thursday.

The remarks came on the heels of a pair of high-profile mass shootings in just a few days, Xinhua news agency reported.

In the shooting at a Colorado Springs nightclub over the weekend, a gunman wielded an AR-15 style rifle, killing five people while injuring 19 others.

"I'm sick and tired of these shootings," the President said on Thursday.

"We should have much stricter gun laws."

However, the chance of a ban on assault weapons passing through the US Congress is all but impossible in the near future.

Republicans will take control of the House of Representatives next term and is likely to oppose legislation to curb gun rights.

The US has suffered more than 600 mass shootings so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

Last year, the country saw a staggering number of 690 mass shootings, up from 610 in 2020 and 417 in 2019.

--IANS

int/khz/