The White House on Wednesday hosted nearly 100 lawmakers from around the country to discuss how their states can try to better reduce gun violence.
“You’re not in it alone,” Vice President Kamala Harris told them.
The event was run by the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, a new undertaking from President Joe Biden in September that has developed guidelines to help states take action.
“We’ve been meeting with the state legislators ever since the start of our office, and one thing we hear all the time is they want to do more to reduce gun violence,” said Stefanie Feldman, the office’s director. “The question is, what should they do and how?”
The gathering attracted lawmakers from 39 states, including eight Democrats from Maine, where a gunman killed 18 people and injured another 13 at a bowling alley and bar in Lewiston on Oct. 25. Biden, who visited the city just over a week later, has called gun violence “the ultimate superstorm,” affecting not just victims but also community members in their daily lives.
The Democrat’s administration says it believes the response to gun violence should better resemble how the government acts after natural disasters. The new White House office is an effort to create a centralized response from the federal government and be a place where communities can turn for resources.
The issue figures heavily into the Biden-Harris 2024 reelection campaign, which hopes to reach younger voters who are deeply concerned about gun violence. The president has also pushed for a ban on so-called assault weapons.
“I’ll speak for myself: I am absolutely in favor of the Second Amendment,” Harris said. “And I’m also in favor of an assault weapons ban.”
The meeting was attended by Maine House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, as well as seven other Democratic lawmakers from the state, including Assistant House Majority Leader Kristen Cloutier, Sen. Peggy Rotundo and Rep. Margaret Craven of Lewiston. Gun control bills have generally failed in the Legislature, given Maine’s unique status as a gun-friendly state that leans Democratic.
Prominent politicians here have begun to shift. U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Democratic from Maine’s 2nd District who long voted against gun control, reversed himself after the shooting in his home city to call for a ban on so-called assault weapons. Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, wants to ban the sale of certain semi-automatic firearms.
The Democrats who lead the Legislature are expected to advance legislation on the topic next year, though they have been coy about exactly what they are considering. Gov. Janet Mills, who has resisted background check expansions and other measures on the subject in the past, has called for a consensus product.
“As we look toward the next legislative session, it is my hope that we can move beyond divisive rhetoric and work together to find solutions rooted in compassion and pragmatism,” Talbot Ross said in a Wednesday statement.
Before the meeting, the Justice Department came up with model legislation on safe storage of weapons and on reporting lost and stolen firearms, and state lawmakers can take that back to their legislatures. Some shootings in schools have been committed with weapons found at home or at the home of a friend. Weapons that go lost or missing often end up being used in crimes.
As of Wednesday, there had been at least 42 mass killings in the United States this year, leaving at least 217 people dead, not including shooters who died, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. The Maine shooting was the deadliest this year.
Mass shootings are only part of the problem of gun violence. The measures are also meant to address domestic violence killings, community violence and suicides.
Story by Colleen Long of the Associated Press. BDN writer Michael Shepherd contributed to this report.
