President Joe Biden Announces Gun Restriction Plan, Two Shooting Incidents Occur In America

Illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Paul Sableman)

JAKARTA - Shooting incidents are again occurring in the United States, as President Joe Biden announced plans to limit the use of firearms among civilians, on Thursday, April 8.

Two shootings occurred in two states in Uncle Sam's Country. According to CNN on Friday, April 9, the shooting occurred in an industrial area in Texas, where an assailant opened fire on workers in the area.

Five people are known to have been injured in the shooting, while another was killed. Local police chief Erick Buske said one person was killed and five others suffered gunshot wounds. Four of them are critical.

"It's a business district, a lot of employees in it. We are still investigating and looking into the shooting suspect's relationship with the area. There is no (identity)," said Lt. Jason James of the local police department.

The shooting was also in South Carolina, United States, when former National Football League (NFL) professional player Philip Adams reportedly shot dead five people before later committing suicide.

A prominent South Carolina doctor, Robert Lesslie and his wife Barbara, and two grandchildren, were killed in a brutal shooting inside his residence. Meanwhile, two technical air conditioners were also shot outside Lesslie's residence. A technician named James Lewis was pronounced dead.

York County Sheriff Kevin Toslan said investigators are still investigating the shooting, despite believing James was the sole culprit. Tolson said it's unclear why Adams brought two guns to Lesslie's property in Rock Hill, a town of 74,000 just across the border from Charlotte, North Carolina.

"There's nothing about this right now that makes sense to all of us," the sheriff said.

Tolson said Lesslie was the region's top doctor. He served as supervising physician, medical director of Winthrop University, and established hospital services and home call doctor services.

When asked if Adams, who played in the NFL from 2010 to 2015, was a patient of the doctor, Tolson said he had not been able to verify that. As a South Carolina state official confirmed, Adams plays in the NFL.

Illustration. (Pexels Skitterphoto)

Gun restrictions

Both shootings occurred close to the announcement of a planned gun restriction by President Joe Biden. Accompanied by Attorney General Merrick Garland, President Joe Biden announced limited measures to address gun violence in the United States on Thursday local time.

According to Reuters on Friday, April 9, this is the first step the White House has taken to curb mass shootings, bloodshed and suicides.

"Today we are taking steps to deal with not only the gun crisis, but what really is a public health crisis. This is an epidemic, for God's sake, and must be stopped," President Joe Biden said.

Gun restriction advocates welcomed the announcement, given the rampant gun violence in the United States in recent days, such as mass shootings in California, Georgia, Colorado, and Atlanta.

"This is a significant set of actions. Some of the most important words he said were: this is just the beginning," said Peter Ambler, executive director of Giffords, a gun violence prevention group.

For the record, gun control is a politically divisive subject in the United States, which has experienced a large number of deadly mass shootings in schools and other public places over the decades.

The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects the right to own a gun, and the state's efforts to limit who can buy a gun or how they can carry it has been challenged in court by pro-gun lobby groups.