US President Joe Biden said that the mass shootings at a Super Bowl celebration chiefs parade in Kansas City today “cuts deep in the American soul.”
“Today’s events should move us, shock us, shame us into acting. What are we waiting for? What else do we need to see? How many more families need to be torn apart?” he said in a statement released by the White House.
Authorities said that 22 people were shot, including one who died from wounds. Nine of those injured were children. Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves said officers have “three persons detained and under investigation.”
The rally was taking place at the city’s Union Station, where crowds had gathered to celebrate the Chiefs’ second Super Bowl win in a row.
Biden called for a ban on assault weapons and limits on high-capacity magazines, among other measures. But those measures have been unable to advance anywhere in Congress.
The president also noted that today, the sixth anniversary of the mass shooting at a Parkland, FL high school, “we learned that three police officers were shot in the line of duty in Washington, DC and another school shooting took place at Benjamin Mays High School in Atlanta.
Yesterday marked one year since the shooting at Michigan State University. We’ve now had more mass shootings in 2024 than there have been days in the year.”
“The epidemic of gun violence is ripping apart families and communities every day,” he said.
“Some make the news. Much of it doesn’t. But all of it is unacceptable. We have to decide who we are as a country. For me, we’re a country where people should have the right to go to school, to go to church, to walk the street — and to attend a Super Bowl celebration — without fear of losing your life to gun violence.”
