Biden meets with gun-safety, victims groups
Photo
Vice President Joe Biden, with Attorney General Eric Holder at left, speaks during a meeting with victim's groups and gun safety organizations in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013. Biden is holding a series of meetings this week as part of the effort he is leading to develop policy proposals in response to the Newtown, Conn., school shooting.
WASHINGTON — Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday heard personal stories of gun violence from representatives of victims groups and gun-safety organizations as he drafts the Obama administration's response to the shooting at a Connecticut elementary school. He pledged that action would be taken.
"I want to make it clear that we are not going to get caught up in the notion (that) unless we can do everything we're going to do nothing," Biden said. "It's critically important (that) we act."
The meeting was part of a series Biden is holding this week to build consensus around proposals to curb gun violence after the Dec. 14 shooting in Newtown, Conn. Twenty school children were killed.
Biden meets Thursday with the National Rifle Association and other gun-owner groups. Meetings with representatives of the video-game and entertainment industries also are planned.
President Barack Obama wants Biden to deliver policy proposals by the end of the month. Obama has vowed to move swiftly on the package, which is expected to include legislative proposals and executive action.
Participants in Wednesday's meeting with Biden included the Brady Campaign to End Gun Violence and groups from Arizona, Illinois and Wisconsin, states with spates of gun violence that garnered national attention, including the shooting in Arizona of then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Also present were two survivors of the 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech that killed 32 people, as well as a stepfather of a victim of last July's massacre at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., in which a dozen people were slain. Attorney General Eric Holder also attended.
Dan Gross, the Brady Campaign's president, said afterward that the meeting was "very productive and actually inspiring." He said the administration is trying to figure out how to save many others from losing their lives to gun violence, not take guns away from lawful owners.
"Words like comprehensive and broad don't mean taking guns away from law-abiding citizens," Gross said as he stood on the White House driveway with some of those who shared their stories with the vice president. "This is not a debate around the Second Amendment."
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 gun restrictions, conservative groups are launching pro-gun initiatives and the Senate's top Republican has warned it could be spring before Congress begins considering any gun legislation.
"The biggest problem we have at the moment is spending and debt," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said this week. "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."
The killing of 6- and 7-year-olds at Newtown's Sandy Hook Elementary School appeared to stir a deep 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. 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 U.S. school as a way to curb violence. A coalition of conservative groups is also organizing a "Gun Appreciation Day" to coincide with Obama's inauguration this month.
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 insisted that any policy response 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," said White House spokesman Jay 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, and 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.
Jan 11, 2013 at 4:58 a.m.
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When has a vice president "met with" anyone about motor vehicle violence and murder??
Jan 11, 2013 at 2:40 a.m.
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Here is what the left wants stopped...people protecting themselves.
http://www.khou.com/news/crime/Burglary-...
Jan 10, 2013 at 11:19 p.m.
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This Harvard study finds that increased gun ownership does have a correlation to lower deadly crimes.
WOULD BANNING FIREARMS REDUCE MURDER AND SUICIDE?
A REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL AND SOME DOMESTIC EVIDENCE
DON B. KATES AND GARY MAUSER
"In sum, though many nations with widespread gun ownership have much lower murder rates than nations that severely restrict gun ownership, it would be simplistic to assume that at all times and in all places widespread gun ownership depresses violence by deterring many criminals into nonconfrontation crime. There is evidence that it does so in the United States, where defensive gun ownership is a substantial socio‐cultural phenomenon. But the more plausible explanation for many nations having widespread gun ownership with low violence is that these nations never had high murder and violence rates and so never had occasion to enact severe anti‐gun laws."
http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs...
Jan 10, 2013 at 4:36 p.m.
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"more (gun) regulation actually increases deadly crimes."
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FALSE ezoner! Show me any study done by a group NOT affiliated with the gun lobby that proves deadly crimes are affected IN ANY WAY by gun regulations. You cite Chicago as an example - Washington DC also has stringent gun regulations and deadly crimes have decreased. Save your "shreading (sic) the constitution" comment for those too stupid to understand the truth, Ezoner. Limiting the type of guns available for sale in no way limits your "right" to own a gun.
Jan 10, 2013 at 2:16 p.m.
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It is a good thing we are talking about gun violence no doubt but rather than politicizing it as both parties are doing, can we get back to the issue the President mentioned almost immediately after Sandy Hook and before any talk of gun control and that was, mental illness. to pull out just a small part of why these tragedies happen is pointless and will have no effect.
Jan 10, 2013 at 1:59 p.m.
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Watch .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl...
Jan 10, 2013 at 1:33 p.m.
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bassman, sorry for your loss, I got your joke and found it amusing because it was based in truth.
Jan 10, 2013 at 1:04 p.m.
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bassman, I'm sorry for your loss.
Jan 10, 2013 at 1:03 p.m.
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Panama,
The statistics are out there -- I will let you look them up.... In fact -- you probably already have and dicovered that more regulation actually increases deadly crimes... (IE see CHicago -- most restrictive guns laws in US). The reality is, concealed carry states, counties etc... have the lowest rates in comparison to COMPARABLE highly regulated states/cities.
The facts are just not on your side in this case. Then you have the disengenuous Hollywood Movie ganag that displays some of worst gun violence movies in the history of motion pict ind. and you want to implement stricter laws -- this is only being done to control citizens while shreading the constitution.
Jan 10, 2013 at 1 p.m.
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donnaw said:
"The Dems never let a crisis go by that they don't twist it to their agenda." Wow, that's a good one. I've never seen Republicans inflate nearly every issue into some kind of bogus political ploy, no never.
Jan 10, 2013 at 12:44 p.m.
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hondaman3, you're not lyin' about that!!
Jan 10, 2013 at 11:55 a.m.
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Mouse, Biden lost his perspective of losing a child when he was talking to Charles Woods, father of Tyrone Woods who was killed in Benghazi, Biden's smirk y remark about Tyrone's anatomy. Search it, you should agree.
Jan 10, 2013 at 11:53 a.m.
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How did the emphasis go from protecting our children, especially in schools, to gun control. Shouldn't all possibilities be discussed? The Dems never let a crisis go by that they don't twist it to their agenda. In this case control all the guns, which is impossible.
Jan 10, 2013 at 11:42 a.m.
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Is there any evidence to support that if less guns are sold that crime will be reduced? They are barking up the wrong tree here. The mentally ill person that shot up the school with his mother's leaglly owned guns is the problem, not the guns.
Jan 10, 2013 at 11:15 a.m.
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“Right now all they are doing is trying to come up with a "feel good" law that will affect no one but make the uneducated dumb dumbs feel better.”
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Kind of like all the laws that put more and more guns on the street with the capacity to fire rapidly and hold large quantities of ammo. For years the NRA has claimed gun ownership would reduce crime yet NO evidence has ever existed to support that claim. Nor does any evidence exist to indicate that fewer guns leads to greater crime rates. And even though there has NEVER been an attempt to make the ownership of guns illegal, EVER, the “dumb dumbs” continue to make wild accusations that restricted or limited gun ownership will result in making it illegal to own a gun. Lies, deceit and deception have been used by the gun lobby to justify their special interests, gun and ammunition manufacturers. They couldn’t have sold more of their product any other way. Buy now, pay later – with our lives.
Jan 10, 2013 at 10:40 a.m.
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I lost a 6 month old baby Grand daughter 9 months ago I know what pain is mouse,I was making a joke about Biden and what a doofus he is.
Jan 10, 2013 at 9:26 a.m.
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Biden and Obama are just going through the motions for public display, they already have plans and decisions regarding this issue. I also notice Holder in the picture. The gun running scheme in Mexico, his baby still needs investigation instead of being covered up.
Jan 10, 2013 at 9:09 a.m.
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Midnight_Ride - That was a great comeback to Mouse. Well played.
Jan 10, 2013 at 7:19 a.m.
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They can make all the laws they want. If the people deem them unconstituional than the laws have no merrit regardless of who made them. Unconstitutional laws are not laws.
Jan 10, 2013 at 6:49 a.m.
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Threatening executive orders over items protected by the bill of rights should make all citizens worry.
Jan 10, 2013 at 6:25 a.m.
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The only way we would have no more USA is if people gave up and gave it to them. Right now all they are doing is trying to come up with a "feel good" law that will affect no one but make the uneducated dumb dumbs feel better. Nothing will come of this.... it cant and the educated people of this country (that dont cower in fear) wont let it happen.
Jan 10, 2013 at 5:39 a.m.
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theone - you obviously do not pay attention to what our political leaders say.
Jan 10, 2013 at 1:10 a.m.
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By-passing Congress again. By Royal Decree -
for now still called Executive Order
Jan 10, 2013 at 1:07 a.m.
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Mouse
Jan 9, 2013 at 8:45 p.m.
Suggest removal bassman..... Biden knows what it's like to lose a child, not by a bullet but a lose all the same.
He speaks on behalf of true Americans families who lost American babies.... have some damn respect.
Spoken by a party who applauds tax payer funded abortions.
Jan 10, 2013 at 1 a.m.
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"you vote,ed for it enjoy it,s only going to get worse. have agood time."
If you are talking to me hondaboy, you are full of feces. I didn't vote for anything of the kind.
Jan 10, 2013 at 12:11 a.m.
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More of the same from the flaming liberal left fringe, complaining of no respect of Biden while talking trash on Walker. Typical do as I say not as I do bunch.
Jan 9, 2013 at 10:40 p.m.
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Kinda like Scotty Walkers rule by "administrative order"...eh Sigmund?
Jan 9, 2013 at 10:24 p.m.
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Anyone who thinks Obama and Biden are doing a good job is either an idiot or a parasite. So long constitution by "Executive Order".
Jan 9, 2013 at 10:03 p.m.
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nemesis...I think you have your "R"s and "D"s mixed up.
Jan 9, 2013 at 9:13 p.m.
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I think if Biden gets his way any female who wants a gun license will include a gynecological exam.
Jan 9, 2013 at 7:51 p.m.
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Biden wouldn't know how to load a pea shooter,if he figured out he would probably shoot his eye out !
Jan 9, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.
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Kind of ironic that someone who calls himself "hondaman" says "no more usa."
Jan 9, 2013 at 6:04 p.m.
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welcome to the liberal way of life. hang on we are in for long ride to no more usa... you vote,ed for it enjoy it,s only going to get worse. have agood time.
Jan 9, 2013 at 4:57 p.m.
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I notice in the picture to Biden's right is Mr. Holder. That is the fellow who was behind the scheme to send firearms to Mexico and make it look like they were bought illegally here in the USA and then that would be used to curtail legal sales and possession of firearms by law abiding American citizens.
Well, they sent thousands of these firearms to Mexico, they were used to kill many people, including a couple of American law enforcement officers. Only problem is an ATF agent with moral standards blew the whistle on this criminal scheme. Mr. Holder is of course refusing to give information to the investigators, it is fairly apparent that he is covering up for someone above him.
It is thought by many that these criminal schemes called Gunwalker, Fast and Furious and other names is what Obama was referring to when he stated that they had some things "under the radar" going on to fight the American citizens and their constitutional rights of firearms ownership.
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