Joe Biden to senators: Show ‘courage’ in gun-control votes

Vice President Joseph R. Biden called on senators Friday to summon the “courage” to enact gun-control measures “once and for all.”

“You know in your heart that this is the right thing to do,” Mr. Biden told lawmakers in an email. “You know that by stepping up, your action has the potential to create a domino effect. Have the courage to do it.”

In the wake of the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, that left 49 dead, the Senate is set to vote Monday on four gun-control measures that would address background checks of prospective gun buyers and the sale of guns to people on terrorist watch lists. Two amendments are sponsored by Democrats, two by Republicans.

Republicans such as Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas say the White House and its allies are using a terrorist attack — the gunman in Orlando was a Muslim who pledged his allegiance to the Islamic State — to restrict gun ownership among law-abiding citizens.

“This is not a gun-control issue. This is a terrorism issue,” Mr. Cruz said. “You don’t defeat terrorism by taking away guns. You defeat terrorism by using guns.”

Ahead of the votes, the White House has scheduled a conference call for Monday afternoon for gun-control supporters who signed a White House petition. The call will be led by senior presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett.

Mr. Biden, who helped to lead an effort to ban assault-style rifles as a senator in 1994, told signers of the White House petition that he and President Obama also want to renew the ban, which expired in 2004.

“The president and I agree with you. Assault weapons and high-capacity magazines should be banned from civilian ownership,” Mr. Biden said.

He said versions of the AR-15 rifle were used by lone gunmen in the Aurora, Colorado, movie theater shooting; the Umpqua Community College shooting in Roseburg, Oregon; and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, where 20 first-graders and six educators died.

“These weapons have been used to commit horrific acts,” Mr. Biden said. “They’ve been called ’the perfect killing machines.’ They fire bullets at incredible speed that rip through bodies and cause devastating carnage, and can accommodate high-capacity magazines that allow them to effectively shoot up to 45 rounds per minute. We’ve seen their tragic results play out in our death tolls and in the thousands left wounded, struggling to recover.”

But the vice president said Congress shouldn’t stop at assault rifles. The administration also wants lawmakers to enact universal background checks, to bar people on terrorist watch lists from buying assault weapons, to prevent people convicted of domestic abuse from buying guns, to end the federal prohibition on gun violence research, and to hire more law-enforcement agents “so they can take dangerous criminals off the street and enforce our gun laws,” Mr. Biden said.