Biden demands ban on ‘assault weapons,’ high-capacity magazines in first speech to Congress

In his first speech before both chambers of Congress, President Joe Biden focused heavily on his administration’s gun control agenda, calling once again for “reasonable reforms” on firearms, including a ban on “assault weapons” and high-capacity magazines.

“We need a ban on assault weapons and high—capacity magazines again. Don’t tell me it can’t be done. We’ve done it before … and it worked,” Biden asserted in his speech. “Talk to most responsible gun owners, most hunters – they’ll tell you there’s no possible justification for having 100 rounds – 100 bullets – in a weapon. They will tell you that there are too many people today who are able to buy a gun, but who shouldn’t be able to.”

Biden said gun-control advocates “beat the NRA” in the 1990s with the passage of universal background checks and a ban on so-called assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. He claimed that “mass shootings and gun violence declined,” but the law expired in the early 2000s and “we’ve seen the daily bloodshed since.”

Biden also called for the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act and the banning of home-made “ghost guns.”