WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House is weighing a far broader approach to curbing U.S. gun violence than just reinstating a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, the Washington Post reported on Sunday.
A working group led by Vice President Joseph Biden is seriously considering measures that would require universal background checks for gun buyers and track the movement and sale of weapons through a national database, the newspaper said.
The measures would
also strengthen mental health checks and stiffen penalties for carrying
guns near schools or giving them to minors, the Post said. The approach
is backed by law enforcement leaders, it said.
President Barack Obama
assigned Biden the job of designing the strategy after the massacre at a
Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school last month that killed 20
children and six adults.
To sell such changes, the White House is developing strategies to work around the National Rifle Association (NRA), the powerful gun lobby.
They include
rallying support from Wal-Mart Stores Inc and other gun retailers for
measures that would benefit their businesses, the Post said.
NEW YORK MAYOR
The White House has been in contact with advisers to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a gun control advocate who could emerge as a surrogate for the administration's agenda, the paper said.
The Post cited several people involved in the
administration's talks on gun control for its story. They included Dan
Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, and
Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum.
The White House had no immediate comment on the Post story. A White House
spokesman told the newspaper that Biden's group was in the middle of
its review and had not decided on its final recommendations.
The NRA has
successfully lobbied federal lawmakers to stop major new gun
restrictions since a 1994 assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004.
The ban also prohibited ammunition magazines holding more than 10
rounds.
When asked if
Congress will entertain new gun regulation, Senate Minority Leader Mitch
McConnell said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that lawmakers needed to see
Biden's recommendations.
"There will be plenty of time to take a look at their recommendations once they come forward," he said.
McConnell, a
Kentucky Republican, said that for the next three months Washington's
debates would center on federal spending and the rising debt.
Democratic Senator
Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, an NRA member, said on ABC's "This Week
with George Stephanopolous" that the reported proposals were "way in
extreme" and would not pass.
No comments:
Post a Comment