[ed. Elections have consequences...]
Vice President Joseph R. Biden vowed action on gun control from President Obama on Wednesday and floated the idea that Mr. Obama could use executive action to do so.
“The president is going to act,” Mr. Biden said, speaking briefly before a meeting with gun safety and gun victims’ groups Wednesday. “There are executive orders, executive action that can be taken. We haven’t decided what that is yet. But we’re compiling it all with the help [of] the attorney general and all the rest of the cabinet members as well as legislative action we believe is required.”
Mr. Biden has been tapped by Mr. Obama tapped to head a task force on gun violence, which is scheduled to deliver recommendations to the president by the end of the month.
“We are vitally interested in what you have to say,” Mr. Biden told the group. “And as the president said, if our actions result in only saving one life, they’re worth taking. But I’m convinced we can affect the well-being of millions of Americans and take thousands of people out of harm’s way if we act responsibly.”
“I want to make it clear that we are not going to get caught up in the notion, ‘unless we can do everything, we’re going to do nothing,’” Mr. Biden continued. “It’s critically important we act.”
Mr. Obama has described Dec. 14 — when 26 people, including 20 young children, were shot to death at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. — as “the worst day of my presidency.” Mr. Biden expressed a similar sentiment Wednesday.
“I’ve been doing this a long time,” Mr. Biden said. “Of all the tragic events we’ve endured, I don’t think anything has touched the heart of the American people so profoundly as seeing those — learning of those young children not only being shot but riddled with bullets. Every once in a while there’s something that awakens the conscience of the country, and that tragic event did in a way like nothing I’ve seen in my career.”
Mr. Biden said he wanted to make it clear to the American public that the administration is reaching out to all groups, no matter where they fall on the issue. He is scheduled to meet with sportsmen’s and gun owners’ groups, including the National Rifle Association, on Thursday.
Per a White House official, representatives from the groups listed below were at the meeting, according to a pool report. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. also attended.
