mass shootings

Facing pressure to act after a recent spate of high-profile mass shootings, President Joe Biden unveiled a package of moves today that seek to address a scourge of gun violence he deemed a "blemish on the nation."

"Gun violence in this country is an epidemic," Biden said in the Rose Garden to an audience of lawmakers and Americans touched by gun violence. "And it's an international embarrassment."

The executive actions -- which Biden repeatedly argued did nothing to impinge on the Second Amendment right to bear arms -- include efforts to restrict weapons known as "ghost guns" that can be built using parts and instructions purchased online.

The moves are limited in scope and fall short of the steps Biden has vowed to pressure Congress to take.

Still, they fulfilled his pledge last month to take "common-sense" steps on his own, and one move -- more heavily regulating arm braces used to make firing a pistol more accurate -- directly relates to the March shooting in Boulder, Colorado, where such a device was used.

They took on new urgency coming on a day when the country experienced two more mass shootings, this time in Bryan, Texas, and Rock Hill, South Carolina."We've got a long way to go," he said, "it seems like we've always got a long way to go."But he insisted lawmakers must break the pattern.

"They've offered plenty of thoughts and prayers, members of Congress, but they have passed not a single new federal law to reduce gun violence," he said.

"Enough prayers, time for some action."