WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite fresh opposition
from the National Rifle Association, the Obama administration is
assembling proposals
to curb gun violence that would include a ban on sales of assault
weapons, limits on high-capacity ammunition magazines and
universal background checks for gun buyers.
Sketching out details of the plan Thursday,
Vice President Joe Biden said he would give President Barack Obama a set
of recommendations
by next Tuesday. The NRA, one of the pro-gun groups that met with
Biden during the day, rejected the effort to limit ammunition
and dug in on its opposition to an assault weapons ban, which
Obama has previously said he will propose to Congress.
"The vice president made it clear, made it explicitly clear, that the president had already made up his mind on those issues,"
NRA president David Keene said following the meeting. "We made it clear that we disagree with them."
Opposition from the well-funded and
politically powerful NRA underscores the challenges that await the White
House if it seeks
congressional approval for limiting guns and ammunition. Obama can
use his executive powers to act alone on some gun measures,
but his options on the proposals opposed by the NRA are limited
without Congress' cooperation.
Obama has pushed reducing gun violence to the top of his domestic agenda following last month's massacre of 20 children and
six adults at a Connecticut elementary school. The president put Biden in charge of an administration-wide task force and
set a late January deadline for proposals.
"I committed to him I'd have these
recommendations to him by Tuesday," Biden said Thursday, during a
separate White House
meeting with sportsmen and wildlife groups. "It doesn't mean it's
the end of the discussion, but the public wants us to act."
The vice president later huddled privately
with the NRA and other gun owner groups for more than 90 minutes.
Participants
in the meeting described it as an open and frank discussion, but
one that yielded little movement from either side on long-held
positions.
Richard Feldman, the president of the
Independent Firearm Owners Association, said all were in agreement on a
need to keep
guns out of the hands of criminals and people with mental health
issues. But when the conversation turned to broad restrictions
on high capacity magazines and assault weapons, Feldman said Biden
suggested the president had already made up his mind to
seek a ban.
"Is there wiggle room and give?" Feldman said. "I don't know."
White House officials said the vice
president didn't expect to win over the NRA and other gun groups on
those key issues.
But the administration was hoping to soften their opposition in
order to rally support from pro-gun lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
Biden's proposals are also expected to include recommendations to address mental health care and violence on television and
in movies and video games. Those issues have wide support from gun rights groups and pro-gun lawmakers.
The vice president also met Thursday with representatives from the entertainment industry, including Comcast Corp. and the
Motion Picture Association of America. He'll hold talks Friday with the video game industry.
During his meeting with sporting and
wildlife groups, Biden said that while no recommendations would
eliminate all future
shootings, "there has got to be some common ground, to not solve
every problem but diminish the probability that our children
are at risk in their schools and diminish the probability that
firearms will be used in violent behavior in our society."
As the meetings took place in Washington, a student was shot and wounded at a rural California high school and another student
was taken into custody.
Biden also talked about holes in NICS — the
National Instant Criminal Background Check System — when states don't
relay information
to the database used by dealers to check purchasers. Advocates
blame Congress for not fully funding a law that provides money
to help states send records to the database.
Gun control backers see plenty of room for executive action when it comes to improving background checks and other areas.
For example, advocates say Obama could order
the Justice Department to prosecute more people flagged by background
checks
as prohibited purchasers when they try to buy guns; expand a rule
that requires dealers to notify the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco
Firearms and Explosives when someone tries to buy multiple
semiautomatic rifles, a program now confined to Mexico border states,
and increase enforcement actions at gun shows.
The group Mayors Against Illegal Guns has sent the White House 40 steps it says would save lives and dramatically improve
enforcement of existing laws without any action by Congress.
Several Cabinet members have also taken on
an active role in Biden's gun violence task force, including Attorney
General Eric
Holder. He met Thursday with Wal-Mart, the nation's largest
firearms seller, along with other retailers such as Bass Pro Shops
and Dick's Sporting Goods.
The president hopes to announce his administration's next steps to tackle gun violence shortly after he is sworn in for a
second term. He has pledged to push for new measures in his State of the Union address.