Vice President Biden traveled to Richmond, Virginia today, where he met with multiple public officials and experts and consulted them about how to best reduce gun violence in the US. Speaking especially with those who had learned from the incident at Virginia Tech, Biden was able to strengthen ideas regarding how to resolve the gun control issue.An article from USA Today mentioned that "in the Virginia Tech shooting, the gunman passed two background checks and was able to purchase weapons without a problem even though two years earlier he had been found to be a danger to himself and others." As a result, Biden is putting universal background checks at the top of his list of suggestions to reduce gun-related violence.
The gun control package currently contains several key provisions, such as increased FBI background checks, increased access to benefits for those who suffer from mental health problems, developments for a set of criteria to assess those with such mental health problems and the capacity to carry out mass-shootings, and limits on ammunition magazines. An updated version of the Assault Weapons Ban, which had expired in 2004, will contain provisions that prohibit 158 specifically-named types of of military-style firearms and semiautomatic weapons, limit ammunition magazines to have no more than 10 rounds, define assault weapons as a gun with one feature instead of two (such as a pistol grip), and not expire, as its 1994 counterpart had after 10 years.
However, there is still much speculation regarding the effectiveness the new provisions will have on the amount of gun violence in society. While pro-gun rights groups support the increased background checks, pro-gun control groups stress the importance of increased limitations on the number and types of guns available for purchase. There are still other concerns regarding how the package to reduce gun violence will make its way through Congress as the proposals become law. Some worry that opposition from House Republicans, as well as some Senate Democrats, to some of the proposed package's provisions will cause certain suggestions to be removed from the deal, and that outright opposition may cause the entire package to disintegrate altogether. Others speculate that the package should be passed provision by provision (Compromise of 1850-style) to ensure that at least some legislation regulating gun violence will be passed.
What do you guys think? Is there a proper manner to propose the legislation to Congress, or will Biden need to aggressively push for the gun control legislation regardless of what opposition he may face?
1 comment:
I don't think that there is any single method which would be the 'best' way for Biden to present his package to Congress, but I am almost certain that no matter what he contains in his package or how he presents it, he will receive heavy opposition to it. This opposition will come from Republicans and Democrats alike, as the post mentioned, and so if he wants to get any parts of his package, let alone the whole thing passed, he is going to have to push very hard for it. I feel like Biden is going to have to end up trying to pass his legislation through Congress Compromise of 1850-style because he has quite a few proposals in his package, and all of them are going to be opposed strongly by different specific groups and people. I think he will have a lot more success if he tries to get as many individual proposals through as possible.
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