WASHINGTON - Vice President Biden pledged Wednesday that President Obama will bypass a reluctant Republicans in Congress and take executive action to curb gun violence, prompting a full-blown fit from conservative gun rights backers.
Biden heads a White House task force set this month to release proposals in response to the Newtown shooting. He told reporters before a Wednesday meeting with gun violence victims and gun control groups that Obama will not let Republican resistance prevent action.
"The president is going to act. There are executives orders, there's executive action that can be taken," Biden said. "We haven't decided what that is yet."
Biden said Obama will also offer legislative proposals.
The Vice President's remarks set a tough tone ahead of another meeting Thursday with pro-gun organizations including the National Rifle Association and Wal-Mart, the nation's leading seller of firearms.
"I want to make clear that we're not going to get caught up in the notion that, unless we can do everything, were going to do nothing," said Biden, who was joined at the meeting by Attorney General Eric Holder.
Obama has already said he supports bills to ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines. He cannot take those steps without Congress.
Obama's unilateral options numerous but limited in scoop.
Still, the assertion set off firestorm from gun rights advocates who charged the White House was weighing unconstitutional steps. The conservative Drudge Report displayed pictures of dictators Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin above a link to a report on Biden's remarks.
"Let us hope that this is just another one of the Vice President's infamous gaffes and not another end-run of Congress and the Constitutional balance of powers through unilateral action by the President," declared new Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) . "I stand ready to defend the Second Amendment and efforts to undermine our God-given rights."
Despite such rhetoric, sources say Biden's group is is eyeing undramatic unilateral actions Obama could take.
They include improving federal mental health programs and requiring all federal agencies to send information to a national database used for gun background checks.
Other executive actions on the table include using his recess appointment power to install a director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives a post left vacant for six years due to holds by Senate Republicans, and ordering the Justice Department to step up prosecutions, now almost nonexistent, of people caught lying on forms used for gun background checks.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is expected to play a significant role in pushing recommendations from the Biden group, called for those actions in a press conference Monday.
"All the president's got to do is sign a piece of paper," Bloomberg said regarding better reporting to the background check database by federal agencies. "They all work for him."
The mayor's Chief Policy Director, John Feinblatt, attended Wednesday's meeting to push Bloomberg's proposals.
Biden "made it clear that this was not going to be just another conversation about gun violence, but that they are committed to delivering policy changes - both through legislation and executive action," Feinblatt said in a statement.
The NRA, which is set to battle gun control bills Democrats have introduced in Congress, has downplayed its attendance of the Thursday meeting with Biden. A spokesman said a representative is attending only "to listen."
Wal-Mart also dragged its feet. The retailer agreed Wednesday to send a representative only after its claim that scheduling conflicts prevented executives from attending drew public fire.
A spokesman said the firm had "underestimated the expectation to attend the meeting on Thursday in person."
[email protected]
