The White House is weighing a far broader approach to curbing U.S. gun violence, the Washington Post said on Sunday. It said the approach would be wider than just reinstating a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
A working group led by Vice President Joseph Biden was seriously considering measures that would require universal background checks for gun buyers and track the movement and sale of weapons through a national database.
The measures would also strengthen mental health checks and stiffen penalties for carrying guns near schools or giving them to minors, the Post said. The approach is backed by law enforcement leaders, it said.
President Barack Obama assigned Biden the job of designing the strategy after the massacre at a Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school last month that killed 20 children and six adults. To sell such changes, the White House is developing strategies to work around the National Rifle Association (NRA), the powerful gun lobby.
They include rallying support from Wal-Mart Stores Inc and other gun retailers for measures that would benefit their businesses, the Post said. The White House has been in contact with advisers to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a gun control advocate who could emerge as a surrogate for the administration’s agenda, the paper said
