Biden Takes Calculated Risk by Going Low on Gun Control

The American President, Joe Bidenyou will surely find the right message on Sunday, when you visit Texas to meet with the families of the children massacred in a school in the town of Uvalde, assuming the role of “comforter in chief”.

But Biden the negotiator has been conspicuous by his absence in the rhetorical war over gun control that followed the shooting, leaving his Democratic Party leaders in Congress to speak for him.

The president “can’t just be the ‘praiser-in-chief.’ He also needs to put the full force of his charge into the legislative process,” Peter Ambler, executive director of the Giffords group to prevent gun violence, told Politico.

“Otherwise, it will look like he’s given up hope.”

Until now, Biden, 79, has been reluctant to delve into the details of the gun control debate, a decision that has more to do with calculated politics than personal disinclination.

The president, who has suffered the loss of a young daughter in a car accident and an adult son to cancer, takes his role as “comforter-in-chief” very seriously.

He would like to believe that Americans can overcome their deep division to at least unite in mourning the 19 children and two teachers shot to death by an 18-year-old gunman at the Uvalde school, where he and his wife, Jill, will attend.

– Political calculation –

For now, Biden focused on the emotional side of the tragedy: “When in God’s name are we going to take on the gun lobby?” he exclaimed on Tuesday. But behind that passion, there is a political calculation.

As a former senator who respects the separation of powers, he wants Congress to pass a bill that would make criminal and psychiatric background checks more widespread for gun buyers, while banning assault rifles and high-capacity ammunition magazines. .

“We’ve done our part… But right now we need help from Congress. You know, the president has been very clear that it is time to act, it is time for Congress to act,” his spokeswoman, Karine Jean-Pierre, said Thursday.

The White House believes that involving Biden in the negotiations at a time when polls show him low popularity would likely undermine a delicate legislative process.

The 50 Democratic seats in the Senate, who support a wide range of actions to tighten controls on access to weapons, will have to win over the Republicans, who hold the same number of seats, to reach the 60-vote threshold required for any project to pass. become law.

Until now, Biden has refrained from openly criticizing Republicans, most of whom are hostile to such legislation and many of whom are making support for gun access a campaign issue heading into November’s midterm elections.

– “Just the bare minimum” –

The administration also argues that a federal law would have a more profound impact than an executive order, that it would not be binding on all states in the Union and would only have a marginal effect.

But several groups advocating gun control say the president needs to get more involved.

Igor Volsky, executive director of Guns Down America, said on Twitter that Biden could create a White House agency dedicated specifically to firearms, travel the country to meet with affected communities, welcome activists to the Oval Office and personally lobby members of Congress.

“This is ‘literally just the bare minimum’ that a president who ran on the prevention of gun violence should do,” he said.

Meanwhile, activists fear that America is slipping back into the now-familiar pattern that unfolds after every mass shooting: a wave of outrage that dies down before translating into meaningful reform.

The Uvalde school massacre may have shocked the country, but not enough to stop normalcy on Capitol Hill.

In effect, Congress kept the long-planned 10-day recess and said it will address the gun issue when it returns after the holiday on Monday for Memorial Day.

Source: Elcomercio

Deshawn