Leading gun violence group finds Biden’s latest pleas lacking

Biden’s speech came one day after a shooter killed four people and himself at a Tulsa, Oklahoma, hospital. The president had delivered similar addresses immediately following the tragedies at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and a Tops Friendly Markets grocery store in Buffalo, New York, but Thursday night marked the first time he definitively named the specific items he wants included in Congress’s guns legislation.

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His new list includes renewing the ban on assault “weapons of war” or raising the minimum purchase age for semiautomatic rifles to 21, banning high-capacity magazines, expanding federal background checks to all firearm transfers, passing safe storage and red flag laws, repealing liability shields for gun manufacturers, and addressing the mental health crisis.

Guns Down America Executive Director Igor Volsky believes that Biden, whose gun control bona fides trace back to his sponsorship of 1994’s assault weapons ban, is calling for all the right things but is failing by not releasing a more detailed plan for maneuvering an evenly divided Senate into passing them.

“President Biden was right to point out that we know which policies can help build safer communities for us all — from an assault weapons ban, to expanding background checks, to ending immunity for gun makers,” Volsky said in a statement. “But what the President didn’t do tonight was articulate a clear plan for building support and eventually passing some of these measures.”

“He’s not a candidate laying out an aspirational vision. He’s a President who has a responsibility to do the very hard work to fight for these proposals,” he added. “Tonight’s speech was a step in the right direction. Now he must roll up his sleeves and use all the tools at his disposal to get the job done.”

Volsky is one of the president’s harshest critics among gun violence advocates, yet Biden and the White House’s hands-off approach strategy for letting congressional negotiations unfold is starting to frustrate others in the movement.

“He can’t just be the ‘eulogizer in chief.’ He also needs to put the full force of his office into the legislative process,” Peter Ambler, executive director for gun safety group Giffords, said in May. “Otherwise, it will seem like he’s lost hope.”

The White House has faced a slew of questions in recent days from reporters and advocates about Biden’s unwillingness to involve himself directly in the legislative negotiations, yet press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has adamantly defended the president’s approach.

“He wants to give it some space, and he’s had conversations in the past with groups,” she told reporters at Thursday’s White House briefing. “He’s had conversations with congressional members in the past, in this past year and a half, on being very clear on Congress acting.”

“He’s encouraged by what we’re seeing on the Hill. You know, this is the first time in a very long time that we have seen this type of bipartisanship,” Jean-Pierre added. “He’s done this before, as I mentioned. You know, he has beat the gun lobby before.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is supporting legislation that includes most, but not all, of Biden’s requests, yet that bill will not pass the Senate.

Meanwhile, Sens. Chris Murphy (D-CT) and John Cornyn (R-TX) are leading a small bipartisan group negotiating separate gun reform legislation, yet comments Cornyn gave Friday morning indicate that bill will be significantly more limited in its scope than what Biden is requesting.

“I’m not talking about restricting the rights of law-abiding citizens under the Second Amendment,” Cornyn told Politico. “I’m talking about identifying people with criminal and mental health problems that are a threat to themselves and others.”

Furthermore, despite his broad proposals and emotional calls for action, Biden has repeatedly acknowledged the slim chance any reform bill makes it to his desk ahead of the midterm elections.

A senior White House official, when pressed on the high likelihood Congress does not pass new legislation, told the Washington Examiner on Thursday that the president “will never stop fighting” for gun reform and hopes that voters will carry that passion with them to the ballot box.

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“If Congress fails, I believe this time a majority of the American people won’t give up either,” Biden similarly said Thursday night. “I believe the majority of you will act to turn your outrage into making this issue central to your vote.”

You can watch his entire speech below.

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