RICHMOND, Va. â President Barack Obama unveiled a broad array of new gun control proposals last week, but already his administration has narrowed the main force of their effort behind just one: universal background checks.
That was the message Vice President Joe Biden effectively delivered here Friday as he launched the administrationâs road campaign in support of the new restrictions developed in the wake of the school massacre at Newtown, Conn.
Polls show of all that the president proposed â including a new assault weapons ban and a ban on high-capacity magazines â universal background checks is the one the widest majority of Americans back. Now Obama and Biden are seeking to mobilize that support and reassure wary gun owners that weapons bans wonât be the first priority.
The White House is going to great lengths to describe background checks as a response with broad, bipartisan support â a message the vice president carried to a roundtable with administration officials at Virginia Commonwealth University and stressed to reporters afterward.
