Why Joe Biden is still pushing for assault weapons ban
For two days, Vice President Joe Biden has insisted that the assault weapons ban can still pass, even after the Senate dropped it. He has three reasons to keep making noise.
For two days, Vice President Joe Biden has insisted that the assault weapons ban can still pass, even after the Senate dropped it. He has three reasons to keep making noise.
For the second day in a row, Vice President Joe Biden made an emotional plea for gun-control legislation 鈥� including an assault weapons ban that Senate majority leader Harry Reid has already removed from the bill, saying it can鈥檛 pass.
Speaking Thursday alongside Michael Bloomberg, New York mayor and antigun activist, Vice President Biden asserted that some of the victims of last December鈥檚 Newtown, Conn., massacre might be alive today had those restrictions been in place. 聽聽
鈥淔or all those who say we shouldn't and can't ban assault weapons, for all those who say the politics is too hard,鈥� Biden said at City Hall in New York, accompanied also by parents of Newtown victims, 鈥渉ow can they say that when you take a look at those 20 beautiful babies and what happened to them and those six teachers and administrators?鈥�
The day before, Biden told NPR he鈥檚 not giving up on an assault-weapons ban.
鈥淲e are still pushing that it pass,鈥� said Biden, a former senator. 鈥淭he same thing was told to me when the first assault weapons ban in 1994 was attached to the Biden crime bill 鈥� that it couldn鈥檛 possibly pass.鈥�
The ban did eventually pass, and was in place for 10 years, before it expired in 2004.
But why is Biden still pushing so hard for something the top Democrat in the Senate says can鈥檛 pass, and will not be part of the gun-control package that goes before Congress after the Easter recess? Senator Reid said Tuesday the assault weapons ban didn鈥檛 even have 40 votes, out of 60 needed to overcome a filibuster. 聽
Three reasons:
- Biden is the head of President Obama鈥檚 gun-control task force, he feels strongly about the issue, and there鈥檚 no downside to pushing for an assault-weapons ban until the bitter end. By insisting it can still pass 鈥� which surely he knows isn鈥檛 true 鈥� he is providing cover for the other parts of the package. Reid has not revealed what will be in the final version, but the elements include: expanded background checks on gun purchasers, limits on the size of ammunition magazines, new restrictions on gun trafficking, and money for school safety.
- Biden is also speaking to the base of the Democratic Party, which is upset that Reid (and by extension, Mr. Obama) gave up without a vote. Included in that base is Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) of California, author of the original assault-weapons ban. Biden is honoring her passion and history on the gun issue. Senator Feinstein was the president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1978 when the mayor and city administrator were assassinated 鈥� a scene she discovered after hearing the gunshots.
- Biden is contemplating a run for the presidency in 2016, and wants to keep Democratic activists happy for his own purposes.
White House chief of staff Denis McDonough said Tuesday that Feinstein could still get her vote by bringing up the assault-weapons ban as an amendment to another bill.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to work on this, we鈥檙e going to find the votes, and it deserves a vote,鈥� Mr. McDonough said on CNN. 鈥淟et鈥檚 see if we can get it done.鈥�