Bill Clinton on gun violence: ‘We must act now’

Former President Clinton called on Congress to take further action on gun violence on Wednesday, particularly pushing for the revival of a federal assault weapons ban.

“We must act now,” Clinton says in a video with the media company ATTN:. “Enough is enough.” 

The former president’s message echoed similar calls from the White House on Wednesday. Following a spate of recent shootings, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement that President Biden will “continue to do everything in his power” to reduce gun violence, also using the line “enough is enough.”

Clinton emphasizes the effectiveness and broad bipartisan support of the federal assault weapons ban that he signed into law in 1994 and that Congress allowed to expire in 2004. The law received support at the time from former Presidents Carter, Ford and Reagan.

“They called it a ‘matter of vital importance to the public safety,’” Clinton says in the video. “They were right then, and they’re still right today.”

The former president compares the issue to car safety measures created following the invention of the automobile, such as laws that banned drunk driving and required a driver’s license.

“Guns are now the leading cause of death among children and teens,” Clinton says. “But the last time a machine was killing so many kids, it was the automobile. And we actually did something about it.”

The former Arkansas governor also taps into his Southern roots in an effort to assuage gun owners’ fears that they will lose their Second Amendment rights.

“I grew up in this culture. … Most of those people would never do anything to endanger an innocent life,” Clinton adds. “They have been terrified into thinking that if they agree to the most simple, straightforward, obvious, noninterfering mechanisms, somehow it’s the beginning of a slippery slope that will rob them of their Second Amendment rights. It’s not true.”

Following the deadly shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, Biden signed into law the first major gun safety legislation in nearly three decades. However, the Biden administration has continued to push for more measures, including a ban on assault weapons.