Democrat Biden and Republican Trump opposing positions on gun ownership

2024-05-21 18:13:29, Kosova & Bota CNA

Democrat Biden and Republican Trump opposing positions on gun ownership

Donald Trump and Joe Biden

A poll on the issue of gun ownership, conducted by the organization "Pew Research", shows that almost half of Americans support gun control and almost half are pro-gun ownership. As Voice of America correspondent Scott Stearns reports, this division is reflected in the two candidates for the White House. President Joe Biden and Republican Donald Trump have opposing views on guns and their control.

Nearly a third of Americans say they own a gun, according to the Pew Research Center. But that constitutional right has become a political issue for presidents after school shootings, including the 2018 case at a Florida school when police had to evacuate students hiding in classrooms.

Then-President Donald Trump met with the victims' families to talk about gun violence.

"It has been going on for a long time and there are many cases. We're going to do something," Mr. Trump said in February 2018.

President Trump's policies at the time focused largely on strengthening school security, including suggesting that teachers be armed. As he runs to return to the White House, Mr Trump has told the powerful gun lobby that guns are essential for personal safety.

"Our country is going to hell. Street gangs and ruthless criminals are terrorizing people on the streets. The weakness of the impostor Joe Biden is taking us to the brink of World War III," said Mr. Trump.

While accepting the support of the National Rifle Association, candidate Trump said that President Biden: "is trying to take firearms out of the hands of law-abiding citizens and destroy the right to bear arms guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the Constitution."

"The Second Amendment should not be mutilated. "Instead, we will have death and destruction at levels this country has never experienced before," Mr. Trump said.

When a teenage gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at a Texas elementary school in 2022, President Biden said, "We must act."

“We have to ask the question as a nation, when are we going to stand up against the gun lobby? When are we going to do what we all know must be done?” President Biden said on May 24, 2022.

The White House and Congress agreed on a bipartisan plan to increase background checks for new gun buyers and help states get firearms out of the hands of those who pose a danger to themselves or others.

President Biden is campaigning for tougher laws, mostly in communities that have suffered from gun violence.

"I signed the most important gun safety law in nearly 30 years. This law is important to grieving communities like those in Atlanta that were affected by the murders," said President Biden.

Since Republicans took control of the House of Representatives in 2022, no gun control legislation has been passed. Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries blames Mr Trump's supporters.

"Today, MAGA extremists and do-nothing Republicans are being run out of town without properly addressing the epidemic of gun violence in America."

American voters' attitudes about guns are largely divided along party lines. Survey findings from the Pew Research Center show that Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are more than twice as likely to own a gun as Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents./ VOA