President Joe Biden has condemned the latest mass shooting to rattle the US, after five people were killed in Raleigh, North Carolina.
In a year that has witnessed high-profile massacres in Uvalde, Texas, Buffalo, New York and Highland Park, Illinois, to name a few, Mr Biden said there are so many mass shootings in the US that many do not garner national headlines.
“Enough,” Mr Biden said of the proliferation of gun violence.
“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.”
Victims who were killed in Thursday's shooting ranged from 16 to 53, including a 29-year-old police officer.
A male suspect, 15, was taken into custody, Raleigh Police said.
“Yet again, our country mourns for lives lost to gun violence. The grief is accompanied by our collective fear for our own loved ones and ourselves,” said Nicole Hockley, co-founder of the Sandy Hook Promise, a non-profit organisation formed after the 2012 elementary school mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.
More than 500 mass shootings have taken place in the US this year, an average of more than two per day, data from the National Gun Archives show.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers earlier this year approved the nation's first major gun control legislation in decades.
While Mr Biden signed it into law and celebrated its passage, he made clear his desire to impose further restrictions on firearm access.
“We must do more. We must pass an assault weapons ban,” he said.
The House of Representatives in July passed an assault rifle ban, but it is likely to languish in the Senate where many Republicans remain opposed to such a measure.
Mr Biden has also openly criticised the gun lobby, the National Rifle Association being the most notable among them, which pours millions of dollars into the campaign coffers of various state and federal officials.
“The American people support this commonsense action to get weapons of war off our streets,” he said.
Polling data suggests that views on a semi-automatic weapons ban remains partisan. Though three in four Democrats support a measure, only 27 per cent of Republicans favour a ban, according to an AP-Norc poll conducted after the deadly Tops Supermarket shooting in Buffalo, New York that left 10 dead and three injured.
The NRA did not immediately respond to The National's request for comment.
