The country’s premier gun safety groups are banding together to support President Joe Biden in 2024, an early endorsement that underscores Biden’s hold over key Democratic coalitions as the party embraces gun policy as a politically beneficial issue ahead of his re-election campaign.
The approval, which The Associated Press received ahead of official publication, marks the first time the groups have jointly announced their support for a presidential candidate. Groups include Brady and his youth-led team, Team Enough; Community Justice Action Fund; Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund and its grassroots networks Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action; and Gifford’s.
It also follows similar shared endorsements by abortion rights groups, labor unions and climate groups — a strategy intended to demonstrate Biden’s strength in various party constituencies as he faces nominal primary opponents and the skepticism of many Democratic voters about whether he should run for a second term.
In their endorsement, the groups cited the Biden administration’s successes in rolling out policies to reduce gun violence — particularly a bipartisan law enacted last year that represented the broadest attempt to limit access to firearms in three decades.
“President Biden and Vice President Harris lead the strongest gun government in American history, a title they have earned by doing everything in their power to protect our families and communities,” said Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director from Mom’s Demand Action.
In total, the groups represent 15 million members. Confirmation also comes as Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at an Everytown event in Chicago on Friday.
Officials said the support allows them to differentiate early and often from Republican presidential candidates who want to relax gun laws at a time when gun violence is rising in the U.S., while mobilizing voters critical of Biden’s re-election strategy. such as suburban women, black voters and younger voters.
Biden’s rhetoric on guns has grown stronger, including routinely calling for a ban on so-called assault weapons, a political term for weapons most commonly used in mass shootings that have the ability to quickly kill large numbers of people. And he’s pushing for a gun-restriction platform that was politically all but unthinkable for Democrats during Barack Obama’s tenure.
“We’ve turned politics on its head,” said Peter Ambler, Giffords chief executive. “It is now a letter of scarlet and not a badge of honor to have the support of the NRA.”
Ambler also added that Biden “is not only the beneficiary of changing policy on this issue, but one of the people who have shaped policy on this issue through his decades of service in the Senate.”
In fact, Biden has a long and often personal history with the various gun groups. In his endorsement, Brady noted that in 1994, when he was a senator, the organization worked with Biden to pass a federal ban on certain high-powered firearms. Former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords, who nearly died in a mass shooting in 2011 and is the namesake of one of the groups supporting Biden, has spoken out about supporting the then-vice president as she recovered from her injuries.
His advisers say Biden has long understood that calls for tougher gun laws resonated with Americans, especially after meeting scores of survivors and families of victims of gun violence, which has encouraged him to speak frequently on the issue.
“I think one of the most exciting things about being president is that you can help change the conversation and the narrative by being willing to go out and speak boldly on an issue,” said Stefanie Feldman, staff secretary at White House, who was previously in office, worked on the Domestic Policy Council. “And he’s done that since day one of his presidency, even as far back as the 2020 campaign.”
Giffords, Everytown and Brady all expressed their support for Biden in separate endorsements in March 2020 – at a time when the former vice president was fighting to block the Democratic nomination against the independent senator. Bernie Sanders from Vermont. The Community Justice Action Fund did not provide assistance in 2020.
“In their first-ever executive action on public safety, President Biden and Vice President Harris have made historic investments in intervention against community violence, demonstrating their unwavering determination to treat gun violence as the public health emergency, and have taken the most significant steps to end it.” “We have weathered this crisis for decades,” said Greg Jackson, executive director of the Community Justice Action Fund.
According to the AP VoteCast, a nationwide poll of more than 94,000 voters conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago for The Associated Press, just over half of voters want the nation’s gun policy to be tightened. And there are clear partisan differences. About 9 in 10 Democrats want stricter gun laws, compared to about 3 in 10 Republicans.
In addition to last year’s bipartisan law, Biden issued an executive order cracking down on “ghost guns,” home-made, unserialized firearms used for traceability and often purchased without a background check. He also wants to tighten regulations on gun stabilizer struts, like those used in a shooting in Boulder, Colorado that killed 10 people.
And last month he announced another order aimed at tightening background checks on gun purchases, promoting safer firearm storage and ensuring law enforcement gets more out of the bipartisan law enacted last summer.
“President Biden and Vice President Harris’ unwavering commitment to ending gun violence was evident from day one,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety.
Julie Chávez Rodríguez, campaign manager for Biden’s re-election, said Biden and Harris are “humbled” by the confirmation, adding that “the work is far from done as MAGA Republicans in Congress continue to side with the NRA and blocking sensible laws.” That would save American lives.”
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