President Joe Biden on Tuesday met with the top Democratic senator trying to craft a compromise on gun safety legislation, the White House announced, as senators on both sides of the aisle appear optimistic about the prospect of a bipartisan gun reform bill.
The president’s top spokeswoman said that Biden sat down with Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, a longtime gun safety advocate who previously represented Newtown, Connecticut, the site of the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Murphy has been working with Texas Republican John Cornyn and a broader bipartisan group of senators to try and craft a deal after a Texas shooting that left 21 dead, including 19 children, and a supermarket shooting in Buffalo where 10 Black people were killed. Muprhy previously told CNN on Sunday that red flag laws and background checks are on the table — in addition to enhanced school safety measures and funding for new mental health programs.
Tuesday’s meeting could indicate that negotiations on Capitol Hill are progressing. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had previously said the president would stay out of early negotiations on gun reform in order to “give it the space that it needs,” while confirming that White House aides had been in “constant communication” with lawmakers.
Earlier Tuesday, Murphy spoke at a new memorial for victims of gun violence on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. More than 45,000 flowers are displayed to represent the growing number of Americans who die by guns each year.
“We’re not going to settle for a piece of legislation that just checks the box. We are only going to move forward with a piece of legislation that saves lives,” Murphy told the crowd Tuesday, saying that there are “a lot of very scared parents and kids out there today.”
The memorial is a project from Giffords, the organization focused on ending gun violence founded by former congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who was shot in the head by a gunman in Arizona in 2012.
“Stopping gun violence takes courage, the courage to do what’s right,” Giffords said. “We must never stop fighting. Fight, fight, fight. Be bold. Be courageous. The nation’s counting on you.”
Former congresswoman and gun violence survivor Gabby Giffords, left, and Robin Lloyd, managing director of Giffords, walk among vases of flowers that make up the Gun Violence Memorial installation on the National Mall in Washington, Tuesday, June 7, 2022. The flowers are meant to represent the number of Americans who die from gun violence each year. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Murphy had told reporters on Monday that talks have reached a “more advanced” stage, with the goal being “to have an agreement by the end of this week.” Murphy also said that the leaders of both parties, McConnell and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., are being kept informed of the progress.
Cornyn praised Murphy on Monday, telling NBC News that the Connecticut Democrat is “going where he needs to go to get a deal” on gun safety legislation.
Schumer has expressed that he wants an accord reached by the end of this week, though lawmakers are unclear if they’ll meet that deadline.
Murphy told CNN on Sunday that lawmakers are “not going to do anything that compromises people’s Second Amendment rights,” noting that “there’s agreement amongst the negotiators that we’re going to take some common sense steps that do not compromise Second Amendment rights.”
