US President Joe Biden

US President Joe Biden says armed citizenry would have no hope against the government, warning that those who think they need weapons to take on the government, they need F-15s and nuclear weapons.

Those who say the blood of patriots y�know and all the stuff about how we�re going to have to move against the government. Well the tree of liberty is not watered with the blood of patriots, Biden said on Wednesday while announcing new measure to curtail to surging gun violence in the United States.

What�s happened is, that there never been, if you wanted, you think you need to have weapons to take on the government, you need F-15s and maybe some nuclear weapons, he continued.

He was referring to the January 6 riot at the US Capitol - when pro-Trump protesters disrupted the joint session of Congress that sought to certify his election. He described the riot as an insurrection that threatened the very survival of our democracy.

At the speech from the White House, the Democratic president announced a zero-tolerance policy for illegal gun dealers on Wednesday and pledged to take on bad actors, as He acknowledged spikes in shootings, homicides and armed robberies in the first quarter of this year across the US

We�re not changing the Constitution, we�re enforcing it, Biden said in an apparent response to Republican critics who warn the president�s efforts at gun control amount to constitutional overreach.

We have an opportunity to come together now, as Democrats and Republicans, as fellow Americans, to fulfill the responsibility of government in our democracy: to keep each other safe, he said, urging Congress to act on gun control legislation.

He said that authorities would crack down on merchants of death who supply the bulk of weapons used in crimes.

Nine of every 10 illegal guns found at crime scenes were sold by just five percent of the nation�s gun dealers, he said.

Biden also promised to boost federal funding and support for local law enforcement as homicide rates have spiked in large cities.

He said he intends to approach crime prevention by investing in, rather than de-funding, the police.

Under his new plan, state and local governments will be allowed to use their designated $350 billion of coronavirus relief funds for programs such as hiring police officers to pre-pandemic levels, paying overtime for community policing work and supporting community-based anti-violence groups.

City governments struggling with high crime will be able to go even further, hiring even more officers than they had before the coronavirus pandemic.

The president appealed to both Republicans and Democrats, saying, This is not a time to turn our backs on law enforcement or our communities, he said.

Folks, this shouldn�t be a red or blue issue. It�s an American issue, he added.

Biden, under fire for being soft on crime, warned that as the nation emerges from the pandemic, an additional summer spike may even be more pronounced than it usually would be.

Republicans, however, say the US president�s policies have contributed to a rise in shootings this year compared to the same period last year.

Numbers don�t lie. This is their crime crisis, House Republican Elise Stefanik said in a tweet.

According to media estimates, there were fewer mass shootings in 2020 due to the Americans� attention being fully focused on defeating the pandemic.

Congressman Richard Hudson tweeted, Instead of gun control, we need to support our good police officers and end this #BidenCrimeCrisis.

President Biden�s answer: Propose even more gun control measures today that only harm law-abiding citizens, he added.

In his remarks, Biden also sought to rebut some gun proponents� arguments that they need high-powered weapons as a check on the federal government.

The 2nd Amendment from the day it was passed limited the type of people who could own a gun, and what type of weapon you could own. You couldn�t buy a cannon, he said.

The Second Amendment of the US Constitution enshrines the right to bear arms, which the country�s apex court says allows individuals to keep handguns at home for self-defense.

There has always been the ability to limit - rationally limit - the type of weapon that can be owned and who can own it, he added.

Back in April, Biden signed six executive orders including a measure to stop the proliferation of ghost guns - firearms built from home kits.

Biden lamented that gun violence, which he described as an epidemic, has become an international embarrassment for America

Last year, homicides in large US cities rose 30% from a year earlier while gun assaults rose 8% with the fastest rate in big cities including Chicago and Houston, the White House said, citing a report

According to research group - the Gun Violence Archive - this year, 20,989 Americans died of gun violence through June 23, more than half through suicide.

US gun sales soared in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic amid social unrest over police killings of Black people and a contested presidential election, with experts warming a spike in homicides could be next.

It�s pretty clear that more guns is more death, Harvard University professor David Hemenway, director of the school�s Injury Control Research Center, which studies injury prevention said in October.

The House of Representatives passed two bills in March aimed at enhancing background checks, but they are unlikely to pass the Senate, where Democrats would need at least 10 Republicans to vote with them to reach the 60 votes necessary to advance the legislation.

The free access to guns and little control over them has paved the way for a spree of mass shootings in the US in recent years, promoting serious concerns.