Biden: Will hurry gun curbs

Steps he presents at meeting include new legislation,White House orders

Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy delivers his State of the State address to the House and the Senate at the Capitol in Hartford, Conn., Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013. Gun control, mental health care and school safety are expected to be major topics in the new session. Legislators also must grapple with a projected deficit of about $1.2 billion. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy delivers his State of the State address to the House and the Senate at the Capitol in Hartford, Conn., Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013. Gun control, mental health care and school safety are expected to be major topics in the new session. Legislators also must grapple with a projected deficit of about $1.2 billion. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

— Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday vowed swift steps by the federal government to confront gun violence as he met at the White House with representatives of about a dozen gun-control organizations.

“The president and I are determined to take action. This is not an exercise in photo opportunities,” Biden said as photographers were given a chance to take pictures before the private meeting.

During the two-hour meeting, participants said, Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder told the group that President Barack Obamawas planning a comprehensive effort to pass legislation and use executive orders to prevent gun violence.

“Clearly they are not talking about just having a conversation with the American people,” said John Feinblatt, who attended the meeting on behalf of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an advocate for greater gun-control measures.

Feinblatt, a top aide to Bloomberg, said Biden promised a “legislative plan that could be achieved and a plan for executive actions.”

“Both those things are go-ing to be pursued,” he said.

The meeting was part of Biden’s effort to develop proposals for Obama and Congress in the wake of the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., last month. A panel led by Biden is to offer recommendations this month.

Offering a glimpse of the approach that he might take, Biden hinted that his group was not likely to recommend an all-or-nothing approach to the issue of gun violence.

“We are not going to get caught up in the notion [that] unless we can do everything, we’re not going to do anything,” Biden said.

Among those at the White House were representatives of the Brady Campaign to End Gun Violence, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, States United to Prevent Gun Violence and several state guncontrol organizations.

“I want to hear about your experiences,” Biden, sitting next to Holder, said to the group. “I’m convinced that we can affect the well-being of millions of Americans and take thousands of people out of harm’s way if we act responsibly.”

Feinblatt said the consensus at the meeting was to seek broad changes to law that would include an assault-weapons ban, limits on high-capacity magazines for ammunition and better enforcement measures.

He said the advocates also pushed for executive actions that would not require congressional approval, including new efforts by the Justice Department to prosecute people who lie on their background checks.

Recommendations to the Biden group also include making gun-trafficking a felony and ordering federal agencies to send data to the National Gun Background Check Database.

Feinblatt said that some of the people in the meeting told personal stories of grief that reminded the others around the table that “this is not some abstract exercise.”

Biden made it clear that doing nothing about gun violence was not an option under consideration. But he also said that his group wouldmeet with gun owners and gun-rights groups - including the National Rifle Association - that oppose significant new gun restrictions.

“I’ve also invited the gun owners and the NRA to come and make their case as well,” Biden said. “We are reaching out to all parties on whatever side of this debate that you fall.”

He added: “But the president is going to act. There is executive action that can be taken. We haven’t decided what that is yet.”

In addition to the NRA, representatives from Wal-Mart, whose stores are the largest seller of guns in the country, will also attend a meeting with the vice president today.

A spokesman for the company initially told The Wall Street Journal that Wal-Mart would not be sending anyone to the meeting. But David Tovar, the vice president for corporate communications, reversed himself Wednesday morning.

“We underestimated the expectation to attend the meeting on Thursday in person, so we are sending an appropriate representative to participate,” Tovar said in a statement. “We take this issue very seriously and are committed to staying engaged in this discussion as the administration and Congress work toward a consensus on the right path forward.”

Also Wednesday, Wal-Mart released a statement onits firearm-sales policies.

“Wal-Mart, like the rest of the country, has been engaged in a national dialogue about the responsible sale and regulation of firearms,” said the statement, releasedin an e-mail from spokesman Ashley Hardie. “We have had ongoing conversations with the administration, Congress, Mayor Bloomberg’s office, sportsmen groups, suppliers and others to listen and share our thoughts and experiences.”

“Over the years we have been very purposeful about striking the right balance between serving hunters and sportsmen and ensuring that we sell firearms responsibly. In fact, we became a charter member of Mayor Bloomberg’s coalition against illegal guns and adopted the 10-point code established by the Responsible Firearms Retailer Partnership that goes beyond what the law requires.”

A separate e-mail noted that Wal-Mart doesn’t sell handguns in the continental United States nor does it sell high-capacity magazines as an accessory. Hardie said the sales of modern sporting riflesare limited to less than onethird of Wal-Mart stores, “primarily where there are large concentrations of hunters and sportsmen,” and that firearms cannot be purchased online from Wal-Mart’s website.

On the store’s website Wednesday, customers could find listed as available for in-store purchase only such guns as a Colt carbine riflechambered for .223-caliber Remington/5.56mm NATO ammunition, as well as a Sig Sauer M400 enhanced carbine, which was described as being “designed for use in law enforcement, military operations, the sporting field, as well as competitive shooting.”

Some sporting goods stores have taken other approaches. Last month, Dick’s Sporting Goods suspended sales of modern sporting rifles at its chain of more than 500 stores. The company does not sell those rifles online.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed a wideranging package of gun restrictions Wednesday. He called for a tightening of the state ban on assault weapons and ammunition magazines that carry more than 10 bullets. The Democrat also wants to require holders of handgun licenses to undergo follow-ups to make sure they are still qualified to possess aweapon, and he is calling for increased sentences for certain gun crimes.

In Connecticut, Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy, in his State of the State address Wednesday, promised to take actions to prevent a tragedy similar to Newtown’s from happening again.

Malloy made it clear that he believed an aggressive gun control agenda, along with attention to mental-health and public-safety matters, was a necessary response to the shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School that left 20 children and six educators dead. But he did not include specific gun-control measures in his remarks. A legislative task force will draw up specific gun-control legislation, and a commissionannounced by Malloy last week will look at both guns and the broader concerns raised by the assault.

Meanwhile, New Jersey’s Republican Gov. Chris Christie said Wednesday that he’s willing to have a conversation about stricter gun laws but that policymakers also must address the mental-health system, improve access to drug treatment and look at the impact of violent video games. Christie made the comments on NBC’s Today show.

In other developments, Steve and Amber Mostyn, wealthy Texas trial lawyers, said Wednesday that they are giving $1 million to help start the gun-control advocacy group formed by former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly.Arizonan Giffords was wounded in a mass shooting in Tucson two years ago.

Steve Mostyn, one of the top contributors to a super political action committee that assisted in Obama’s reelection effort, is listed as treasurer of Giffords’ new super PAC, Americans for Responsible Solutions. Mostyn said the group will have a nonprofit wing, which will be used to conduct a publiceducation campaign.

Mostyn said the super PAC will counter the political contributions of the NRA, which is how he’s pitching it to other big Democratic donors.

Information for this article was contributed by Michael D. Shear and Peter Applebome of The New York Times; by Erica Werner, Darlene Superville and Julie Pace of The Associated Press; by Steve Painter of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and by Julie Bykowicz of Bloomberg News.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 01/10/2013

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