Biden, Adams, NYPD brass to discuss how to curb gun violence

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland will meet with the NYPD’s top brass and New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday, where the president is expected to revive his calls for Congress to pass a spending plan that increases funding for local police departments and for programs aimed at reducing gun violence.

Biden and Garland plan "to talk about the steps the administration has taken so far to reduce crime … and how we can be a strong partner for New York City and other cities grappling with increased gun violence," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Tuesday.

The president’s steps so far to address gun violence have been largely centered on a series of presidential orders issued in his first year in office. But as Biden visits New York on Thursday to promote his administration’s efforts, gun safety advocates say they are hoping in his second year he pushes Congress to act on more sweeping reforms, such as universal background checks on gun purchases.

"Both Congress and the president certainly have opportunities over the next year to address gun violence," said Adzi Vokhiwa, federal affairs director for the gun safety group Giffords, in an interview with Newsday. "The crisis is much more urgent than it's been in a long time as we've seen an increase in gun violence-related deaths and injuries over the past few years."

Biden’s visit comes a day after funeral services were held for fallen NYPD Officer Wilbert Mora, who was killed alongside his partner, Officer Jason Rivera. Both were fatally shot responding to a domestic violence call in Harlem last month. Since the start of the year six NYPD officers have been shot, and an 11-month-old baby was struck in the face by a stray bullet after a gunman opened fire on a Bronx street.

Adams, responding to the increase in violent attacks, laid out a 15-page plan last month to address the city’s rise in violent crimes. Part of the plan urges Congress to pass a universal background check law for gun purchases, an effort that has so far languished amid Republican opposition.

The Democratic-controlled U.S. House passed a background check law last year, but the measure has been blocked by Republicans in the Senate, where Democrats need 10 crossover GOP votes to pass legislation. As worries grow among Democrats that control of Congress could flip to Republicans after November’s midterm elections, gun safety groups contend Biden should use his executive authority to pass new background check regulations if Congress fails to act.

"President Biden must use the power and visibility of his position to address this growing crisis head-on," said Kris Brown, president of the nonprofit gun safety group Brady: United Against Violence, in a statement. "We know he cares deeply about this issue, and the power of the bully pulpit allows him to ensure that America does not look away from this crisis."

On Thursday, the president is also set to meet with local advocates in Queens involved in grassroots programs aimed at reducing gun violence.

Biden has made boosting funding to so-called community violence intervention programs a cornerstone of his administration’s plan to tackle gun violence, and he is expected to make an appeal to lawmakers to pass his federal budget proposal, which calls for an additional $300 million in funding for community policing and $200 million for violence intervention programs, such as after-school programs or job training initiatives.

The president has previously called for Congress to include $5 billion in federal funding for gun violence prevention programs under his Build Back Better social infrastructure package. But the bill’s future remains uncertain after the key swing vote, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), declared the existing package "dead" on Tuesday. Biden has said he will push for scaled-back "chunks" of the bill to be passed.

Since Biden assumed office, his presidential orders on gun violence have included directing federal regulators to draft new rules aimed at curbing the proliferation of ready-to-assemble guns known as ghost guns, and at making pistols converted into short-barreled rifles through the use of stabilizing braces subject to stricter rules that already govern semiautomatic weapons. Though the rules have been drafted by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, they have yet to be implemented.

Biden also ordered the creation of five Department of Justice-led strike forces focused on stopping the flow of firearms trafficked to New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area and Washington, D.C.

"It’s up to both the President and Congress to take action when it comes to gun safety," Vokhiwa said. "We need both executive action as well as legislation, and I think if we see neither, worst case scenario, then voters will respond accordingly in the fall."