Instead, the White House is likely to deliver on campaign promises to support legislation to close the Charleston breach, as well as measures to keep weapons away from people believed to be a danger to themselves or others and to establish safety storage standards for firearms, according to one of the people familiar with the plans.
“My vision is that the bigger and more daring the better at preventing armed violence, because we have a unique window of opportunity,” said Blumenthal.
The desire to be bigger and bolder comes up against a variety of different political realities, including a Senate divided in half and defenders who are at odds over which policies to promote and how quickly to do them. Underlining all of this is a promise that Biden made to act quickly with weapons after taking office – a promise that seems less likely, as the Covid-19 pandemic overshadows everything else.
The White House has held several meetings on armed violence with prominent groups pushing for arms restrictions, community groups asking for billions of dollars in funding for programs and survivors of armed violence.
The meetings are being conducted by Susan Rice, director of the Domestic Policy Council, and Cedric Richmond, director of the Office of Public Engagement. During recent meetings, Richmond shared with advocates that he lost a childhood friend due to armed violence, according to three people who were talking to the former deputy.
A White House official said that Biden is considering “all the tools at our disposal, including executive actions” and is considering investing in community violence programs, requiring background checks, banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and revoking the immunity of liability weapon manufacturers. But Biden still lacks an attorney general confirmed by the Senate and director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, who will play a key role in any Executive action on arms.
“During the campaign, the president outlined an ambitious plan to keep our communities safe and remains committed to that agenda,” said White House spokesman Mike Gwin.
The discussions come as gun sales skyrocket amid a year of pandemic quarantines, a summer of racial unrest and Biden’s victory in the presidential election after promising an aggressive effort to curb armed violence. The year 2020 saw a record number of armed homicides in the United States.
The Biden White House’s reach for arms security groups has been praised by more established organizations. “This administration has what, three weeks [but] it’s the strongest arms security administration in history, whether you’re talking about the president or the vice president or the cabinet, ”said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “We have full confidence that they will rule like that.”
Defenders affiliated with these groups argue that the chance for action in Congress and elsewhere in the federal government has never been better, partly because public support for the changes has steadily increased after Newtown, Connecticut and subsequent shootings and partly because of the implosion of the once powerful National Rifle Association.
“We changed the state legislatures. We have already approved voter referendums. We saw for the first time in my time in this movement a … Democratic primary where each candidate was trying to outdo themselves in how much they care about this issue, ”said Christian Hayne, vice president of policy at Brady, a group that supports greater arms restrictions of fire. “We anticipate that momentum will continue to grow until we get the change we desperately need.”
Biden has a long history of dealing with gun legislation, although his most recent effort ended in a notable failure. After Newtown, Connecticut, Obama asked him to do what he hoped would be the biggest firearm restrictions in decades. But after months of meetings and limited executive action, a bill to require more background checks died in the Senate.
The Senate is even less democratic now, divided into 50-50, meaning that any bill would require at least 10 Republicans to vote with all Democrats. And as such, grassroots groups led by young blacks who have survived gunfights or live in communities struggling with daily armed violence want Biden to use his executive power immediately to close loopholes for arms sellers.
Some of them are asking the government to start disbursing money to 40 cities across the country affected by armed violence through concessions from discretionary agencies or by declaring a national emergency. Rather than waiting for Congress to approve funding for an infrastructure or arms control law, groups like the March For Our Lives and the Community Justice Action Fund say that agencies can and should start allocating funds for community programs now. They fear that the current government approach may take weeks, even months to result in progress, and note that such long terms are at odds with Biden’s promise to act on his first day in office.
“We have incidents where three or four people were shot [daily] and we don’t get the same kind of uproar and attention for these types of homicides, mainly because they’re black and brown, ”said Eddie Bocanegra, senior director of the Heartland Alliance’s progressive Chicago READI division, who spoke to the White House.
Earlier this month, Heartland was among the coalition of organizations representing communities of color that sent a letter to the Biden government expressing disappointment that they were not included in a meeting that the White House held with more established arms control groups. According to four people who were involved in recent meetings, the White House acted quickly to rectify the situation and has since made at least two virtual calls with advocates from groups across the country.
Bocanegra said he was happy with the audience he received at the White House. But he still expressed frustration that white-led gun control groups appeared to be receiving more attention after he spent days helping Biden’s political transition.
“I want to see my return on that investment,” he said.
To complicate any effort to implement weapons security measures – whether through legislation or executive action – is the Covid pandemic. At present, almost 2,000 Americans, on average, die of the virus every day. And while the country’s cases and deaths have declined since the peak of January, the White House’s top priority continues to control the coronavirus pandemic and distribute economic aid, including a nearly $ 2 trillion Covid-19 bill under way. in Congress.
While the White House is focusing its efforts on the pandemic, lawmakers working on arms control have been waiting for signs. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) Said he plans to reintroduce his universal background check account next month, although he wants to see a plan by the Biden government first.
“I don’t think anyone is going to advance the strategy without listening to the White House,” said Murphy, who plans to speak with Rice this week.
Murphy himself said he supports Biden by using his executive authority to deal with gun control. But if Democrats are going to seek legislation, “our best chance of passing a background check is this year. I don’t want to have to wait for a mass shootout.”