US President Joe Biden. (Photo: REUTERS)

Speaking from the White House, Biden asked a country stunned by the recent shootings of school children in Texas, at a medical building in Oklahoma, and at a New York grocery story, how much it would take to change gun laws in America.

The president, a Democrat, called for a number of measures historically opposed by Republicans in Congress, including banning the sale of assault weapons, or, if that were not possible, raising the minimum age to buy those weapons to 21 from 18, and repealing the liability shield that protects gun manufacturers from being sued for violence perpetrated by people carrying their guns.