WASHINGTON D.C. (WJW) — President Joe Biden said there should be a ban on assault weapons and high-powered magazines and called on the U.S. Senate to close loopholes in the background check system in response to Monday’s mass shooting in Colorado.
“This is not and should not be a partisan issue,” he said. “This is an American issue. It will save American lives. We have to act.”
Police on Tuesday identified a 21-year-old man as the suspect who opened fire inside a crowded Colorado supermarket in an attack that killed 10 people, including an officer, and sent terrorized shoppers and employees scrambling for cover.
Authorities said Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa was from the Denver suburb of Arvada and that he engaged in a shootout with police Monday afternoon inside the Boulder store. The suspect was being treated at a hospital and was expected to be booked into the county jail later in the day on murder charges.
Investigators have not established a motive, but authorities believe he was the only shooter.
A law enforcement official briefed on the shooting told The Associated Press that the gunman used an AR-15 rifle, a lightweight semiautomatic rifle. Officials were trying to trace the weapon. The official was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to AP on the condition of anonymity.
Biden spoke Tuesday afternoon in Washington D.C. before heading to Columbus, where Gov. Mike DeWine was set to greet him at John Glenn Columbus International Airport. Biden will be visiting the James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute.
Biden said there is still much to learn from the Colorado investigation, including more information on the shooter, guns used, magazines and possible weapon modifications.
He emphasized a ban on assault weapons that passed when he was a former senator.
“It brought down these mass killings,” he said. “We should do it again.”
He said the United States Senate “should immediately pass the two House-passed bills that close loopholes in the background check system.”
“That’s one of the best tools we have right now to prevent gun violence,” he said.
Biden said he would have more to say as officials investigated the Colorado shooting.