President Joe Biden on Tuesday paid tribute to the families who lost loved ones in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting nine years ago, saying the nation owed them action - not prayers.
In a video message released by the White House, Biden called the day that 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people, including 20 children between six and seven years old, and six adult staff members, 'one of the saddest days' that he and Barack Obama were in office.
Sandy Hook was the deadliest mass shooting at an elementary school in U.S. history, and the fourth-deadliest mass shooting overall.
Biden, who was vice president at the time, acknowledged the frustration felt by families in Newton, Connecticut, as they lobbied to pass stricter gun control laws but came up short.
'We came close to legislation, but we came up short. It was so darn frustrating, and it's still frustrating now for you and me and so many others,' he said.
He noted the same frustration was felt by families in the 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and from the families in last month's shooting in Oxford, Michigan.
And he issued a call for action.
'We owe all these families more than our prayers. We owe them action,' he said.
'We can't give up hope. We can't stop,' Biden added.
He called on the Senate to pass legislation proposed by Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, from Connecticut, that would expand federal background checks to all gun sales.
And Biden asked the Senate to pass a bill from Senators Jeanne Shaheen, Maggie Hassan and Amy Klobuchar that would close the so-called 'boyfriend loophole.' The bill would prevent people who have abused dating partners from buying or owning firearms and stop convicted stalkers from possessing a gun.
But to move those bills forward in the legislative process, 10 Republicans senators would need to support them, which is unlikely.
Two House-passed bills to greatly expand background checks have already stalled in the Senate.
In a November poll, just 52% of Americans say that the 'laws covering the sales of firearms' should be stricter than they currently are, the lowest number that Gallup has measured on the question since 2014. In 2019, 64% of people told Gallup they wanted stricter gun laws.
But a bigger majority of Americans support universal background checks.
A March poll from Politico/Morning Consult found that 84% of voters, including over three-quarters of Republicans and 82% of
