The empathetic US president, who visited the Texas town on Sunday and spent several hours with families of victims, said “the pain was palpable”.

On Tuesday, 19 children – aged between 9 and 11 – and two female teachers were killed at Robb Elementary School by the bullets of a teenager, plunging America back into the recurring nightmare of school shootings.

During the presidential visit on Sunday, several voices had chanted: “Do something!”

“We will. We will,” replied Joe Biden.

“I have always had the will” to act on weapons, he reaffirmed to journalists on Monday, assuring that he would “continue to push”.

“It doesn’t make sense to be able to buy something that can fire up to 300 rounds,” he added.

The second amendment, which allows the possession of firearms, “has never been absolute”, assured the 79-year-old president, affirming that certain categories of armament were excluded at the time.

Negotiations are taking place between elected Democrats and Republicans to try to find a compromise on this thorny issue, on which Joe Biden has so far failed to legislate.

The Democratic president clarified on Monday that he himself did not participate in these discussions.

But “I think things have gotten so bad that it makes everyone more rational about it,” he hoped.

The day before, Democratic senators had expressed cautious optimism that tougher laws would be passed.

Influential Senator Dick Durbin said he felt “a different state of mind” among elected officials, even those in the Republican camp, traditionally much less inclined to legislate on the subject.

But the face that this law could have, which would necessarily be the result of difficult concessions, remains unclear.

Among the tracks mentioned by the elected officials: an increase in the age necessary to buy a weapon or a generalization of the examination of the psychiatric and judicial history.

– Prepare for the funeral –

The United States still experienced a dozen shootings with numerous victims during the weekend, causing several deaths and dozens of injuries, according to a count of the Gun Violence Archive site.

It was a long weekend – Monday being a public holiday to celebrate “Memorial Day” – which usually results in a higher number of this type of violence, especially during the hot months of the year.

Six teenagers were injured on Saturday evening in Chattanooga, Tennessee, “during what appears to be an altercation with other young people”, tweeted the city’s mayor, Tim Kelly.

Another shooting on Sunday left one dead and seven injured, including a child, at a festival in Taft, Oklahoma, state authorities said.

In Texas, Uvalde, still traumatized by the attack at her school, was preparing to bury the 21 victims.

An anonymous donor offered more than 175,000 dollars (about 162,000 euros) to “ensure that all family costs related to the funeral are taken care of”, said Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Friday.

The funeral will begin Tuesday, and will extend until mid-June.

One of the first ceremonies will be that of Amerie Jo Garza, a little girl who had just celebrated her tenth birthday when she was killed.