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| Vice President Joe Biden, with Attorney General Eric Holder at left, speaks during a meeting with victim's groups and gun safety organizations in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013. Biden is holding a series of meetings this week as part of the effort he is leading to develop policy proposals in response to the Newtown, Conn., school shooting |
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Vice President Joe Biden vowed urgent action against gun violence in America Wednesday, pledging steps by the Obama administration that he said could "take thousands of people out of harm's way" and improve the safety of millions more.
But
a day ahead of a meeting with the National Rifle Association, which has
sunk past gun control efforts and is opposing any new ones, Biden
signaled that the administration is mindful of political realities that
could imperil sweeping gun control legislation, and is willing to settle
for something less. He said the administration is considering its own
executive action as well as measures by Congress, but he didn't offer
specifics.
"I want to make it clear that we
are not going to get caught up in the notion that unless we can do
everything, we're going to do nothing," Biden told an array of gun
control advocates, crime victims and others at the White House. "It's
critically important we act."
Shortly after
last month's slaughter of schoolchildren at Newtown, Conn., President
Barack Obama tasked Biden with heading a commission to come up with
recommendations on gun policy by the end of this month. Obama supports
steps including reinstating a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity
ammunition magazines and closing loopholes that allow many gun buyers to
avoid background checks.
The Brady Campaign
to Prevent Gun Violence says that some 40 percent of gun sales are made
without background checks, such as at gun shows and over the Internet.
The
tragedy in Newtown, in which 20 young children and six adults were
gunned down by a man with a military-style semiautomatic rifle, has
prodded the administration to act. Obama had remained largely silent on
gun control after the 2011 shootings in Tucson, Ariz., that killed six
people and wounded 12 others including then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, and
the Colorado movie theater killing of a dozen people and wounding of
many more last July.
Connecticut is moving
cautiously on gun control, but Gov. Andrew Cuomo in neighboring New York
proposed a wide-ranging package of restrictions on Wednesday. He called
for loopholes to be closed in a New York ban on assault weapons and
ammunition magazines that carry more than 10 bullets. The Democrat also
wants to require holders of handgun licenses to undergo follow-ups to
make sure they are still qualified to possess a weapon, and he is
calling for increased sentences for certain gun crimes.
Biden,
referring to the Newtown shootings, said at the White House: "Every
once in a while, there's something that awakens the conscience of the
country, and that tragic event did it in a way like nothing I've seen in
my career."
"The president and I are
determined to take action. ... We can affect the wellbeing of millions
of Americans and take thousands of people out of harm's way if we act
responsibly."
Biden said that the
administration is weighing executive action in addition to recommending
legislation by Congress. Recommendations to the Biden group include
making gun-trafficking a felony, getting the Justice Department to
prosecute people caught lying on gun background-check forms and ordering
federal agencies to send data to the National Gun Background Check
Database.
Some of those pieces could happen by
executive action, but congressional say-so would be needed for more
far-reaching changes such as reinstating the ban on assault weapons and
high-capacity ammunition magazines. Congress let the ban expire in 2004
under heavy pressure from the NRA. Democrats blamed a backlash against
some lawmakers who voted for its enactment 10 years earlier for steep
election losses that year.
Since then
Democrats have been wary of legislating on guns, and efforts have
fizzled in Congress. Already there are signs any new legislative effort
by Obama could face tough going. Some pro-gun Democrats have voiced
doubts, and the Senate's top Republican has warned it could be spring
before Congress begins considering any gun legislation.
Obama
has said that his efforts on guns can be successful only if he has the
support of the public, and advocates who attended Wednesday's Biden
meeting said part of the White House message was for participants to
spread the word and keep up pressure on Washington.
"They
have made clear that they're in this for the long haul and they want us
to be in this for the long haul," said Dan Gross, president of the
Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
Advocates
participating in Wednesday's meeting, some of whom have been critical
of Obama's silence on guns in the past, said they were optimistic that
the president and Biden are committed to the effort this time around.
"I think it's for real," said Shira Goodman, executive director of CeaseFirePA.
Biden
also held a call with Wednesday with more than 30 governors, mayors and
other state and local officials to get their input on ways to curb gun
violence.
For Biden, Thursday will bring a
tougher audience when the NRA joins a meeting at the White House along
with other gun-owner groups and retailers including Wal-Mart. NRA
officials didn't return messages for comment Wednesday but the group's
executive vice president, Wayne LaPierre, has dismissed the assault
weapons ban as "a phony piece of legislation" and has recommended
putting armed guards in all schools as a way to stop another school
shooting.
Biden said he wanted to hear from "all parties, on whatever side of this debate you fall."
The
president hopes to announce his administration's next steps to tackle
gun violence shortly after he is sworn in for a second term on Jan. 21.
