Biden calls on Senate to 'immediately pass' House bills that would close gun background check loopholes

Joe Biden.
(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

In response to Monday's mass shooting at a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado, President Biden on Tuesday urged the Senate to "immediately pass" two recent House-passed bills that would close loopholes in the background check system for gun purchasers.

While Biden acknowledged it's still unclear what weapon(s) the suspected shooter may have used to kill 10 people, the president said he doesn't "need to wait another minute, let alone an hour, to take common sense steps that will save lives in the future." He said he wants to work with Congress to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, but specified that closing background check loopholes is "one of the best tools we have right now to prevent gun violence."

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.