Biden unveils gun control measures as shootings rock US

WASHINGTON • US President Joe Biden and Attorney-General Merrick Garland have announced limited measures to tackle gun violence in the United States in what the White House describes as a first step to curbing mass shootings, community bloodshed and suicides.

The new measures unveiled on Thursday include plans for the Justice Department to crack down on "ghost guns" - firearms without serial numbers that can be bought online and assembled at home - and make "stabilising braces", which effectively turn pistols into rifles, subject to registration under the National Firearms Act.

Just hours after the announcement was made, one person was killed and at least five wounded in a shooting at a business in Texas.

A day earlier, a former American professional football player killed five people - including a doctor and the doctor's wife - before dying by suicide, police in the US state of South Carolina confirmed on Thursday.

Mr Biden said he will ask the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to release an annual report on firearms trafficking in the US, and make it easier for states to adopt "red flag" laws that aim to prevent individuals deemed to present a danger to themselves or others from owning guns.

He also outlined more ambitious goals that he needs the support of Congress to accomplish, including reintroducing a ban on assault weapons, lifting an exemption on lawsuits against gun manufacturers, and passing a nationwide red flag law.

The executive orders unveiled on Thursday are not legislative. The White House promised that more action was coming.

"Today we're taking steps to confront not just the gun crisis, but what is actually a public health crisis," Mr Biden said, speaking in the White House's Rose Garden to an audience filled with family members of victims of gun violence.

He noted the mass shooting in South Carolina. "This is an epidemic, for God's sake, and it has to stop," he said.

Mr Biden, a Democrat who has a long history of advocating for gun restrictions, has come under pressure to step up action after recent mass shootings in Colorado and Georgia.

He announced the measures alongside Vice-President Kamala Harris and Mr Garland, who Mr Biden said would prioritise gun violence as head of the Justice Department.

"We've had more tragedy than we can bear," Ms Harris said.

"People on both sides of the aisle want action... So all that is left is the will and the courage to act."

The Justice Department will issue a proposed rule on ghost guns in 30 days, as well as proposed rules on stabilising braces within 60 days.

Mr Garland said the department will also be rethinking the way it analyses criminal cases and investigations to try to learn more about modern gun-trafficking patterns.

The US Constitution's Second Amendment protects the right to bear arms, and state attempts to limit who can buy guns or how they can carry them have been challenged in court by pro-gun lobby groups.

The most prominent of those groups, the National Rifle Association, has criticised the measures, while advocates for gun restrictions welcomed them.

Most Americans support boosting US gun laws. An overwhelming majority support expanding background checks and keeping guns from the mentally ill, polls show.

A series of gun control measures has failed in Congress, however.

"Enough prayers. Time for some action," Mr Biden said on Thursday, asking Congress to pass a proposed Bill requiring background checks at gun shows and online.

"Everything that is being proposed today is totally consistent with the Second Amendment," said the President.

"And there's a wide consensus behind the need to take action."

In the Texas shooting on Thursday, Larry Bollin, 27, was named as the main suspect and charged with murder, according to a tweet by the police department in the east Texas town of Bryan where the attack took place.

Several of those wounded are in critical condition and officials said the suspect had shot and injured one officer.

Meanwhile, the authorities said at a press conference that former San Francisco 49ers cornerback Phillip Adams fatally shot five victims on Wednesday in the city of Rock Hill. He then returned to his parents' house, where he killed himself early on Thursday after a stand-off with police.

"There's nothing right now that makes sense to any of us," said York County sheriff Kevin Tolson, adding that law enforcement officers have yet to determine a motive.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE