'Enough': Biden renews push for assault weapons ban after Raleigh mass shooting

President Biden condemned Thursday’s deadly mass shooting in Raleigh, N.C., and renewed his call for an assault weapons ban.

“Jill and I are grieving with the families in Raleigh, North Carolina, whose loved ones were killed and wounded in yet another mass shooting in America,” Biden said in a statement released Friday by the White House. “We are thinking of yet another community shaken and shattered as they mourn the loss of friends and neighbors, including an off-duty police officer.”

Authorities say a 15-year-old boy is suspected of killing five people in a shooting along a nature trail on Thursday night.

Among the victims was 29-year-old Raleigh Police Officer Gabriel Torres, who was on his way to work. The others were identified as Nicole Conners, 52; Susan Karnatz, 49; Mary Marshall, 35; and James Roger Thompson, 16.

The suspected teenage gunman, whose name was not released, was taken into custody. He remains hospitalized in critical condition, Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson said at a news conference Friday morning.

Patterson declined to offer further details — including a possible motive or the type of weapon used — saying only that the incident remains under investigation.

“My heart is heavy because we don't have answers as to why this tragedy occurred,” Patterson said.

Biden said he was “grateful for the law enforcement and other first responders, including federal law enforcement who were on the scene last night and into this morning.”

But he also expressed his exasperation with America’s gun violence.

“Enough,” the president said. “We’ve grieved and prayed with too many families who have had to bear the terrible burden of these mass shootings. Too many families have had spouses, parents and children taken from them forever. This year, and even in just the five months since Buffalo and Uvalde, there are too many mass shootings across America, including ones that don’t even make the national news.

“For the lives we’ve lost and the lives we can save, I took historic action to stop gun violence in our nation, including signing the most significant gun safety law in nearly 30 years,” he added. “But we must do more. We must pass an assault weapons ban. The American people support this common sense action to get weapons of war off our streets. House Democrats have already passed it. The Senate should do the same. Send it to my desk and I’ll sign it.”

In June, following the shootings in Buffalo, N.Y., and Uvalde, Texas, Biden signed bipartisan legislation that bolstered mental health programs and closed the so-called boyfriend loophole, under which unmarried people convicted of domestic abuse could still obtain weapons.

But the package did not include many of the tougher restrictions that advocates had called for, including banning AR-15-style rifles, raising the purchasing age on such weapons to 21 and background checks for all gun transactions.