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| FILE - President Barack Obama stands with Vice President Joe Biden as he makes a statement in this Dec. 19, 2012 file photo taken in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, about policies he will pursue following the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Ct. Facing an end-of-the-month deadline, the Obama administration is calling gun owner groups, victims' organizations and representatives from the video-game industry to the White House Biden will meet Wednesday Jan. 9, 2013 with gun violence victims' groups and gun safety organizations, a White House official said. On Thursday, he will hold talks with gun ownership groups, as well as advocates for sportsmen. for discussions on potential policy proposals for curbing gun violence. |
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Less than a month after a horrific elementary school shooting, the White House is fighting to keep the momentum for new gun legislation amid signs it's losing ground in Congress to other pressing issues.
Vice
President Joe Biden has invited the National Rifle Association and
other gun-owner groups for talks at the White House on Thursday. On
Wednesday, the vice president will meet with victims' organizations and
representatives from the video game and entertainment industries. The
administration's goal is to forge consensus over proposals to curb gun
violence.
President Barack Obama wants Biden
to report back to him with policy proposals by the end of January. Obama
has vowed to move swiftly on the recommendations, a package expected to
include both legislative proposals and executive action.
"He is mindful of the need to act," White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Tuesday.
But
as the shock and sorrow over the Newtown, Conn., shooting fades, the
tough fight facing the White House and gun-control backers is growing
clearer. Gun-rights advocates, including the powerful NRA, are digging
in against tighter legislation, conservative groups are launching
pro-gun initiatives and the Senate's top Republican has warned it could
be spring before Capitol Hill begins considering any gun legislation.
"The
biggest problem we have at the moment is spending and debt," Sen. Mitch
McConnell, R-Ky., said on Sunday. "That's going to dominate the
Congress between now and the end of March. None of these issues will
have the kind of priority as spending and debt over the next two or
three months."
Tuesday marked the second
anniversary of the Tucson, Ariz., attack that killed six people and
critically injured former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Following that
shooting, Obama called for a national dialogue on gun violence. But his
words were followed by little action.
Giffords
took a prominent role in the gun debate on Tuesday's anniversary. She
and husband Mark Kelly, a former astronaut, wrote in an op-ed published
in USA Today that their Americans for Responsible Solutions initiative
would help raise money to support greater gun control efforts "to
balance the influence of the gun lobby." Kelly has indicated that he and
Giffords want to become a prominent voice for gun control and hope to
start a national conversation about gun violence.
There
was also little national progress on curbing gun bloodshed following
shootings at an Aurora, Colo., movie theater, a Texas Army base or a
Sikh temple in Wisconsin, all of which occurred during Obama's first
term.
Still, the killing of 6- and 7-year-olds
at Newtown's Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14 did appear to stir
a deeper reaction from the White House and Capitol Hill. Obama pushed
gun control to the top of his domestic agenda for the first time and
pledged to put the full weight of his presidency behind the issue. And
some Republican and conservative lawmakers with strong gun rights
records also took the extraordinary step of calling for a discussion on
new measures.
But other gun-rights advocates
have shown less flexibility. The NRA has rejected stricter gun
legislation and suggested instead that the government put armed guards
in every school in America as a way to curb violence. A coalition of
conservative groups is also organizing a "gun appreciation day" later
this month, to coincide with Obama's inauguration.
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.
Obama
wants Congress to reinstate a ban on military-style assault weapons,
close loopholes that allow gun buyers to skirt background checks and
restrict high-capacity magazines. Other 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 steps
could be taken through executive action, without the approval of
Congress. White House officials say Obama will not finalize any actions
until receiving Biden's recommendations.
Gun-rights
lawmakers and outside groups have also insisted that any policy
response to the Newtown shooting also include an examination of mental
health policies and the impact of violent movies and video games. To
those people, the White House has pledged a comprehensive response.
"It
is not a problem that can be solved by any specific action or single
action that the government might take," Carney said. "It's a problem
that encompasses issues of mental health, of education, as well as
access to guns."
In addition to Biden's
meetings this week, Education Secretary Arne Duncan will meet with
parent and teacher groups, while Health and Human Services Secretary
Kathleen Sebelius will meet with mental health and disability advocates.
The White House said other meetings are also scheduled with community organizations, business owners and religious leaders.
