Biden is due to be informed again on Tuesday morning about the deadly shooting, two White House officials said, and plans to comment on the shooting sometime in the day. He planned to travel to Ohio to promote the anniversary of the Affordable Care Act.
Vice President Kamala Harris called the shooting “absolutely tragic” on Tuesday, but ignored a question about the future of gun control during William Burns’ inauguration as CIA director.
The president’s team met with gun control advocates in the past two months to discuss possible executive actions and generate ideas on possible ways forward, according to people familiar with the meetings. These meetings were led by Susan Rice, director of the Domestic Policy Council and Cedric Richmond, a senior adviser to Biden and director of the White House’s Office of Public Engagement.
Richmond, speaking at MSNBC on Tuesday morning, said: “The regular feeling of hearts and prayers is not enough.”
“We need to act on this in the country,” he said, pointing to legislation recently passed in the House. “This president has a history of fighting the NRA and defeating them, and we need to make sure that we have sensible arms regulations in this country to ensure security. And therefore, we need action, not just words and prayers ”.
Among executive actions, Biden could include requiring background checks on “ghost guns” that do not have serial numbers or strengthening the federal background check system to alert law enforcement agencies when someone fails a check. Biden also said he would entrust the attorney general with better enforcing existing gun laws. And the defenders raised the idea of sending more federal money to communities affected by armed violence.
But some proponents withdrew from White House meetings without a clear picture of the timeline to reveal any gun control measures or a legislative plan to advance gun control measures in an equally divided Congress. It was not clear at the meetings whether Biden would support ending the obstruction of gun control legislation.
During his private meeting with Asian community leaders in Atlanta last week, the gun control issue came up briefly when one of the participants spoke about a background check bill that was being presented at the Georgia Legislative Assembly, according to a person familiar with the meeting. Biden expressed his support for expanding background checks, but did not offer a timetable and later, during public comments at Emory University, made no mention of gun control.
Ultimately, gun control issues – which face an uphill battle for approval in a Senate closely controlled by Democrats – are lower on Biden’s list of legislative priorities than issues like infrastructure and immigration.
As a candidate, Biden said on his first day in office that he would send Congress a bill overturning liability protection for arms manufacturers and closing loopholes for background checks, actions he is yet to take seven weeks in office.
“It remains a commitment, a personal commitment by the president, to do more for the security of arms, to put more measures into practice, to use the power of the presidency, to work with Congress. And there is certainly an important role for the attorney general and the Justice Department to do that, “White House press secretary Jen Psaki said last Thursday.” Unfortunately, we have no updates for you today. , but it is a problem that he remains committed to. “
The Senate Judiciary Committee is due to hold a hearing on Tuesday about the future of arms control in the Senate. Two bills passed by the House addressed who can buy a gun and how to close loopholes in background checks, but the votes are not there in the Senate 50-50 to approve House bills, or a ban on assault weapons or a limit of magazines. Despite this, Schumer pledged to bring the House’s universal background check bill to the floor.
The critical point between Republicans and Democrats in background checks is whether there should be exceptions and, if so, to whom they should apply. Most lawmakers agree that if you are going to buy a gun from an authorized firearms dealer or at a gun show, you should do a background check. What they don’t agree on is whether when you sell a gun to a relative or friend or transfer a particular gun, you need to do a background check?
That is why the 2013 bipartisan agreement signed by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, and Pat Toomey, R-Pennsylvania, was a significant deal. It reached an agreement and would require background checks on all commercial arms sales. But it failed in 2013 and it is not the legislation that Democrats are currently seeking to put to the vote.
Lauren Fox and Jeremy Diamond of CNN contributed to this report.