With the recent assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, the conversation around guns and gun policy is heating up — even as President Joe Biden is asking the country to cool down.
This is the first assassination attempt on a former or current U.S. president since 1981, when Ronald Reagan was shot
“First of all, that is preposterous,” said U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas when asked about rumors that the assassination attempt was an inside job involving the current administration.
“It is also dangerous to propagate rumors that are so unequivocally false and provocative,” he said at a Monday news briefing. “As the president so powerfully said to the entire nation, we have to tamp down the rhetoric in this country.”
U.S. gun policy may see particular focus in campaigns and debates in the final approach to the 2024 presidential election.
Biden, even before the recent shooting, has been a strong advocate for stricter gun policy.
Biden served as vice president under President Barack Obama, who tried to tighten gun policy following the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school that killed 26 people, mostly 6- and 7-year-olds, but was unable to pass major gun legislation.
After the Sandy Hook shooting, Obama asked Biden to lead a more concrete initiative on gun reform, and Biden met with a range of citizens to seek their thoughts on gun policy.
Trump has advocated a less stringent gun policy. His campaign calls for deregulation of firearms, and he has said he will undo some executive actions introduced by Biden.
White House reaffirms position
At the news briefing with Mayorkas on Monday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre affirmed Biden’s position on gun policy.
“The president has been, obviously, a strong advocate on gun control. He has been throughout his career as a senator, as vice president, as now as president,” Jean-Pierre said in answer to a question from VOA.
She noted that Congress in 2022 approved the first major gun safety legislation in 30 years. "The president led on that effort and was able to get that done. … The president has signed more than two dozen executive actions [on gun control],” she said.
'Lower the temperature'
This week, Biden has also condemned the recent violence, asking the country to minimize its divisiveness.
“We have to lower the temperature … there is no place in America for violence. It is important that we are really clear about that,” said Jean-Pierre when asked if Biden plans to tone down his political rhetoric.
The message from the White House comes after Biden called Trump a “threat to democracy” on several occasions. Trump has repeatedly said “you will not have a country” if Biden is re-elected.
J.D. Vance, Donald Trump’s recently chosen candidate for vice president, blamed Biden’s political rhetoric for the assassination attempt.
“Today is not just some isolated incident. The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump's attempted assassination,” he posted on X shortly after the incident.
In a Monday interview with NBC News, Biden said he regretted saying “it was time to put Trump in the bull’s-eye.” But he defended saying that the former president is a “threat.”
“Look, how do you talk about the threat to democracy, which is real, when a president says things like he says?” Biden said in the interview
Some analysts doubt that Biden’s call for a calmer climate will bring about big changes to the political landscape.
“I think the immediate effect [after the shooting] is going to be that it will escalate violent rhetoric and that people are going to be more vehement and vocal in vilifying their political rivals,” Valentine said.
“Unfortunately, I think that’s where we’re at, and that’s what we’re beginning to see already.”
Anita Powell contributed to this report from the White House.
