Gun safety groups push Biden to act, but White House looks to Congress
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[May 27, 2022] By
Jeff Mason and Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Gun safety advocates
are pushing U.S. President Joe Biden to take stronger measures on his
own to curb gun violence after the Texas elementary school shooting, but
the White House is putting responsibility on Congress to pass laws that
would have more impact.
The White House has spoken with gun safety groups since Tuesday's
rampage in Uvalde, Texas, in which 19 elementary school students and two
teachers were killed - the deadliest school shooting in nearly a decade
- activists said.
The groups are urging Biden to make an emergency declaration on gun
violence, name a gun violence czar, advocate lifting the Senate
filibuster if necessary and issue an executive order on background
checks for firearms purchases if lawmakers do not pass legislation
tightening loopholes in current law.
For the moment, the Biden administration is pressing Congress to pass
tighter gun laws that can have more lasting impact than executive
action. The White House has been in touch with top Democrats in Congress
regarding next steps on firearms laws.
Bills backed by Democrats requiring background checks, banning
semi-automatic rifles and strengthening gun safety measures have failed
for a decade in Congress in the face of stalwart Republican opposition
and objections from some moderate Democrats and independents. Gun-rights
advocates believe in a broad interpretation of U.S. constitutional
protections for keeping and bearing arms.
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Democrats in Congress said Wednesday they would try again on
legislation.
"The plan is to work hard at a compromise for the next 10 days," said
Senator Chris Murphy. "Hopefully, we succeed and the Senate can vote on
a bipartisan bill that saves lives."
After the Texas gunman, identified as Salvador Ramos, 18, used an AR-15
semi-automatic rifle to kill students and teachers before being killed,
many gun safety activists demanded more urgency from the White House.
"President Biden is not doing enough," David Hogg, a survivor of the
Parkland, Florida, high school massacre, said on Wednesday.
The White House has said it was looking at every tool at its disposal to
stop gun violence, including executive action, but stressed that Biden
needed help from the legislature.
"It is time for Congress to act," said White House press secretary
Karine Jean-Pierre, who was grilled by reporters about what the
administration was doing on the issue. "The president cannot do this
alone."
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![](../images/052722PIX/news_q33.jpg)
Some of the 1,100 body bags that will spell out the words “Thoughts
and Prayers” are placed on the National Mall near the U.S. Capitol
as gun control activists demand Congress do more to end gun violence
in Washington, U.S., March 24, 2022. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
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PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY
Since taking office in January 2021, the Biden administration has
taken several steps without Congress. They include requiring that
"ghost guns," which are often assembled from kits, be regulated the
same way as traditional firearms, and launching a strike force aimed
at cracking down on illegal firearms trafficking in major cities,
including New York and Los Angeles.
Gun safety advocates say there is more the president can do alone.
"He should declare gun violence a public health emergency," said
Kris Brown, president of Brady, a gun violence protection group. "We
need to tackle this in a way that prevents the violence from
happening in the first place and not walk away from it because it's
a public health emergency that happens to involve guns."
A national emergency declaration gives the president additional
statutory powers to address a crisis. The White House says Biden has
already called it an emergency and a legal invocation would not lead
to the authorities needed to address gun violence.
Brown said if the Senate did not pass gun safety measures under
consideration, Democrats should lift the filibuster rule requiring
60 votes in the 100-member body to approve legislation. Biden, a
former U.S. senator, has been largely reluctant to advocate such a
change to pass his policy agenda.
Po Murray, who chairs the grassroots group Newtown Action Alliance,
said the White House needs an office of gun violence prevention. "We
appreciate that (domestic policy council director) Susan Rice is
tasked with addressing this issue, but we believe we need somebody
that could spend 100% of his or her time doing this work," Murray
said.
"Since we elected a gun safety president, he could certainly do
more," she said.
Peter Ambler, executive director of Giffords, a gun violence
protection group founded by former U.S. Representative Gabrielle
Giffords, said the White House should write an executive order on
background checks if a bill does not pass.
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It could be used to mandate that anyone who sells as few as two guns
per year would need to become a federal firearms licensee and
conduct background checks, he said.
"The administration needs to make gun violence protection a
governing - not just a political - priority," Ambler said.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Andrea Shalal; additional reporting by
Sarah N. Lynch and Joey Roulette; editing by Heather Timmons,
Jonathan Oatis and Cynthia Osterman)
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