Highland Park shooting: Biden vows to end gun violence ‘epidemic’

International

oi-Deepika S

Washignton,
Jul
5:
US
President
Joe
Biden
vowed
to
keep
fighting
to
end
the
“epidemic”
of
gun
violence
in
America
after
a
deadly
mass
shooting
that
killed
at
least
six
people
and
injured
more
than
30
during
an
Independence
Day
Parade
on
Monday.

Addressing
a
July
4
barbeque
for
military
families
at
the
White
House,
Biden
said
he
and
his
wife
Jill
were
“shocked
by
the
senseless
gun
violence
that
has
yet
again
brought
grief
to
an
American
community
on
this
Independence
Day.”

“I’m
not
going
to
give
up
fighting
the
epidemic
of
gun
violence,”
he
said,
noting
he
had
signed
the
first
significant
gun
control
measures
in
decades
into
law
in
late
June,
but
that
“much
more
work”
remains.

“In
recent
days,
there
has
been
reason
to
think
that
this
country
is
moving
backward,
that
freedom
has
been
reduced,
that
rights
we
assumed
were
protected
are
no
longer,”
he
was
quoted
saying
by
news
agency
AFP.

Biden
was
referring
to
a
rapid
succession
of
Supreme
Court
rulings
that
overturned
the
50-year-old
federal
right
to
abortion,
expanded
gun
rights
for
people
wishing
to
bear
them
in
public,
and
limited
the
government’s
ability
to
fight
climate
change.

A
gunman
on
a
rooftop
opened
fire
on
an
Independence
Day
parade
in
suburban
Chicago
on
Monday,
killing
at
least
six
people,
wounding
at
least
30,
and
sending
hundreds
of
marchers,
parents
with
strollers,
and
children
on
bicycles
fleeing
in
terror.

The
July
4
shooting
was
just
the
latest
to
shatter
the
rituals
of
American
life.
Schools,
churches,
grocery
stores,
and
now
community
parades
have
all
become
killing
grounds
in
recent
months.
This
time,
the
bloodshed
came
as
the
nation
tried
to
find
cause
to
celebrate
its
founding
and
the
bonds
that
still
hold
it
together.