Biden renews vow to ban assault weapons

President Joe Biden has renewed vows to secure a new ban on assault weapons in the United States as he turns up heat on lawmakers to pass legislation before his party loses control of Congress next month.

Lawmakers have shown little inclination to outlaw assault weapons since a ban on high-capacity firearms expired in 2004, but Biden is hoping to seize on outrage about the regularity of shootings to lead to greater pressure on them to change their mind.

"We did it before," Biden said of the ban at a vigil for victims of gun violence on Wednesday at St Mark's Episcopal Church in Washington, DC. "We did it, and guess what? It worked ... We can do it again."

The two-hour candlelight vigil, organised by the Newtown Action Alliance, memorialised the 10th anniversary of the December 14, 2012, Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, when 20 first-grade students and six adults were murdered by a gunman with a semi-automatic rifle in Newtown, Connecticut.

"Guns are now the number one killer of children in America, and we are asked to be brave while hiding under our desks in our classrooms, while too many elected officials lack the courage to pass common-sense laws to save our lives," said Jackie Hegarty, a student who survived the shooting, introducing Biden at the vigil.

Biden has made banning so-called assault weapons a rallying cry for his gun safety agenda after pushing a bipartisan law through Congress in June that includes provisions intended to help states keep guns out of the hands of those deemed to be a danger to themselves or others.

The House of Representatives remains in the hands of Democrats for just a few more weeks before Republicans become the majority party. Democrats will keep their majority in the Senate.

Gun control advocates are a major pressure group within Biden's Democratic Party, while those opposed to new restrictions are a force in the Republican Party.