Biden: "rational" Republicans must help on guns
A day after promising residents of Uvalde, Texas, action to address gun violence, US President Joe Biden on Monday sought to appeal to "rational" Republicans to curb high-caliber weapons and take other federal action to prevent more mass shootings. "Things have gotten so bad that everybody is getting more rational about it," Biden said as he returned from his weekend trip to pay tribute to the 19 children and two teachers killed last week in the nation's worst mass school shooting in a decade. "The idea of these high-caliber weapons – there is simply no rational basis for it in terms of self-protection, hunting," Biden told reporters at the White House. The United States has seen hundreds of deaths from dozens of mass shootings in recent years and similar debate in Washington about how to reduce them have not yielded congressional action even as polls show most Americans back at least moderate gun ownership regulations. The two parties remain deeply divided, with Biden's Democrats open to new gun restrictions while Republicans zealously guard an expansive vision of gun rights. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, has repeatedly said gun regulations are not the solution and instead pointed to problems of mental health. Questions remain nearly a week after an 18-year-old shot his grandmother before heading to Robb Elementary School in southern Texas armed with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, killing 21 people and injuring at least 17 others. Local police waited nearly an hour even as children continued calling 911 pleading for help before a US Border Patrol tactical team stormed in and killed the shooter. The US Department of Justice on Sunday said it would review law enforcement's response at the behest of Uvalde's mayor. Some Texas Democrats also want a separate FBI probe. "We deserve better policing... We want answers,” Jessica Morales, 30, who was born and raised in Uvalde but now lives in Houston, said outside her parents' home near the school. Police removed school barricades on Monday, allowing public access on the Memorial Day federal holiday to a makeshift memorial with scores of teddy bears and hundreds of bouquets fading in the Texas heat. (Reuters)