US President Joe Biden lashed out at his predecessor Donald Trump on his first appearance on a late-night talk show since taking office a year and a half ago. When asked by moderator Jimmy Kimmel why he was no longer issuing executive orders on crackdown on gun violence, Biden replied on Wednesday evening (local time): “I don’t want to emulate Trump’s abuse of the Constitution and constitutional powers.”

A series of fatal firearm incidents in the United States has reignited debate about tightening gun laws. At the end of May, an 18-year-old killed 19 children and two teachers with an assault rifle at an elementary school in the small Texas town of Uvalde.

Democrat Biden said he’s often asked why he’s playing by the rules when Republicans aren’t. His answer: “If we do the same as they do, our democracy would be literally in jeopardy.”

On the talk show, Biden described the impending tightening of abortion laws in the USA as “simply ridiculous”. “I don’t think the country will accept that. We need to make sure we pass a law that makes it law.” He is also considering executive orders.

There is no federal law in the United States that allows or prohibits abortion. At the beginning of May, a draft of the Supreme Court’s verdict was leaked, according to which the liberal abortion law is to be overturned.