Biden's Gun Push Draws NRA Ire

Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday he would recommend the White House push for broad measures to stem gun violence, citing growing support for tighter background checks on gun purchasers, restrictions on high-capacity clips and other moves.
But the National Rifle Association delivered a swift rebuke following a meeting with Mr. Biden, saying the administration was gearing up for an attack on gun ownership.
Mr. Biden said he would deliver his recommendations Tuesday to President Barack Obama, who has promised a quick effort to put them into practice. The strong opposition from the NRA, the nation's most powerful gun-rights group, suggested proponents of new measures had substantial work to do to build political support.

Vice President Joe Biden, right, meets with sport-shooting and other groups in Washington on Thursday. He has been tasked by President Barack Obama to draw up a response to the Newtown, Conn., school killings.

"We disagreed, obviously, on important issues,'' said James Baker, director of federal affairs for the NRA, who attended the meeting Thursday with Mr. Biden. In a written statement, the NRA said it was "disappointed with how little this meeting had to do with keeping our children safe and how much it had to do with an agenda to attack the Second Amendment.''
Mr. Biden and other administration officials have met with a range of groups this week, among them medical associations, victims' rights and sportsmen's organizations, entertainment-industry trade groups and gun retailers, as part of an assignment from Mr. Obama to draw up a response to the school killings last month in Newtown, Conn.

The White House is working quietly with outside advocacy groups and religious groups to lay the groundwork for a campaign to build political support for gun-control efforts. But the challenge of moving anything through Congress remains high. Colleen McCain Nelson reports on The News Hub. Photo: Getty Images.

Mr. Biden detailed some of his potential recommendations before a morning meeting with sportsmen's groups and others, saying they had arisen from his discussions so far and had broad support.
He didn't say in his public comments whether he would recommend an effort to revive the federal assault-weapons ban that expired in 2004. But Mr. Baker, the NRA official, said Mr. Biden all but threw his support behind a ban during the private meeting the NRA attended Thursday. The White House declined to comment on Mr. Baker's characterization of Mr. Biden's position.

Map: Gun Laws by State

Timeline: Gun Control in the U.S.

Since the American Revolution, when colonists went to war against Great Britain, the right to bear arms has been central to – and controversial in – American culture.

Take a look back over milestones in America's relationship with and regulation of firearms.

In his public comments, Mr. Biden also said he had heard a "surprising recurrence'' of suggestions from groups he consulted that the nation require a background check for every gun purchase. Currently, checks are only needed for purchases from federally licensed dealers, in an effort to make sure that buyers aren't prohibited from owning a firearm.
Many proponents of tougher rules have called for closing what some call the "gun show loophole,'' which allows sales without background checks from private sellers who often do business at gun shows. Mr. Biden suggested that background checks be applied even more widely, to all private sales, wherever they occur. Gun-control advocates say that a substantial share of the nation's gun sales are excluded from the background-check requirement.
Richard Feldman, president of the Independent Firearm Owners Association Inc., said a number of areas of agreement emerged during the meeting attended by the NRA, especially on civil commitment laws for the mentally ill and increased penalties for gun trafficking. Mr. Feldman said he differed from many in the room by backing expanded background checks at gun shows. He said, however, he opposed requiring background checks on all gun sales.
The NRA said it opposes Mr. Biden's plan to expand background checks.
Depending on how they are crafted, most of Mr. Biden's potential recommendations would likely require legislation. Mr. Obama can take some steps without agreement from Congress, as he has executive authority to ban certain gun imports and strengthen some aspects of background checks.
"We can do a great deal without in any way imposing on and impinging on the rights of the Second Amendment," Mr. Biden said in public comments.
Mr. Biden also suggested he would try to reverse restrictions on government research on weapons injuries, which he suggested had been put in place as an effort to blunt gun-control measures. "I mean, we don't have that information. And the irony is, we're prohibited, under laws and appropriations bills, from acquiring it,'' he said.
Several research groups, including the National Research Council, part of the congressionally chartered National Academies, have complained that a lack of data on firearm use and ownership has meant they cannot draw conclusions on key questions related to guns. Mark Rosenberg, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's injury-prevention center, said in The Wall Street Journal late last year that the agency stopped most of its research on gun violence after 1996, following a successful lobbying campaign by gun-rights groups.
Mr. Baker said that at Thursday's meeting, he suggested the administration work on ways to push states to submit mental-health records into the background-check system, an emerging area of consensus in response to Newtown. Mr. Baker said he also raised questions about whether current gun laws were being sufficiently enforced, and talked about the need for increased security at schools. As a response to the Newtown shootings, the NRA has proposed that every school have armed security.
Mr. Baker argued that data had shown that the 10-year assault-weapons ban that expired in 2004 had been ineffective, and that the vice president responded that the administration's support for the banning of assault weapons, large-capacity magazines and universal background checks was "not going to change." Mr. Baker said he made clear that the NRA "would do everything in our power'' to see that new gun-ownership restrictions don't pass. "Our leaders do not believe that their legal choices of firearms should be dictated by a homicidal maniac in Connecticut,'' he said.
While Mr. Biden prepares to present his ideas to the president, White House allies have begun organizing to build public support for gun control. Neera Tanden, president of the liberal Center for American Progress, which has close ties to the White House, said she sees an opportunity to reshape the conversation and appeal to moderates.
Americans for Responsible Solutions, launched by former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D., Ariz.), who was seriously injured in a shooting spree, and Mayors Against Illegal Guns, led by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, also are emerging as key voices in the gun-control effort.
Opponents of new gun restrictions also have been preparing for a fight over proposals from the White House and lawmakers.
Rep. Bobby Scott (D., Va.,), vice chairman of a congressional gun-violence task force, said in an interview that gaining bipartisan support on gun-safety measures "may be challenging."
Source: http://online.wsj.com