President Joe Biden Wednesday evening praised survivors and relatives of victims of gun violence and pledged to work to try and strengthen gun laws.
Speaking at the 10th annual National Vigil for All Victims of Gun Violence at a church in Washington, D.C., he called it "commonsense" to ban assault weapons, limit the number of bullets allowed in a cartridge and restrict the types of weapons that can be bought and sold.
He said that the federal government had banned assault weapons before. "We can do it again," he said.
President Joe Biden speaks during the 10th Annual National Vigil for All Victims of Gun Violence at St. Marks Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 7, 2022.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
Biden praised the attendees for turning "pain into purpose."
"Scripture says, 'The light shines in darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it,'" Biden said. "All of you here tonight, you are the light. You are literally the light. And your loved ones, and your friends, they're the light."
Biden spoke of his own personal tragedies and, as he has in the past, described how losing a loved one is like having a "black hole in the middle of your chest you're being dragged into and you never know if there's ever a way out."
"How many of you ask yourself, 'What would my son or daughter want me to do at this moment?'" Biden said. "They're in your heart, they're part of you, they're always going to be with you."
"We ask God," he said, "give us the strength to finish the work left undone, and on behalf of the lives we've lost and all the lives we can save."
The vigil, organized by the Newtown Action Alliance, was held one week before the 10-year anniversary of the Sandy Hook school shooting, when a gunman armed with a semi-automatic rifle killed 20 first-graders and six adults.
Earlier this year, Congress passed the most comprehensive federal gun safety law in decades.
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act -- crafted in the wake of the devastating mass shootings in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas -- includes funding for mental health services and community safety programs.
It also closed the so-called "boyfriend loophole" to prevent convicted domestic abusers from purchasing a firearm for five years, and enhanced background checks for gun buyers age 21 and younger.
Biden celebrated the legislation as a "monumental" achievement but said there was more work to do to confront the tidal wave of gun violence across the country.
Biden has pushed for a ban on assault weapons, universal background checks and raising the minimum age to purchase guns from 18 to 21.
After five people were killed at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs last month, Biden again called to get "weapons of war off our streets."
"More families left with an empty chair at the table and hole in their lives that cannot be filled," Biden said after the shooting. "When will we decide we've had enough?"
But with Republicans taking control of the House next year, an assault weapons ban and many of the other tougher restrictions Biden is calling for will face an uphill battle. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre wouldn't say if the White House believes they can get that done in a divided Congress.
"The President signed the most significant gun safety legislation in 30 years this summer, but he feels it's not enough," she said. "He believes that we need to do more and he's been very vocal about that these past several months.
ABC News' Ben Gittleson contributed to this report.
