President Joe Biden met with U.S. police chiefs and elected officials at the White House Monday to discuss his plan to address a continuing nationwide surge in gun violence.
“We recognize that we have to come together for the first responsibility of democracy: to keep each other safe,” Biden said before the meeting. “And that’s what the American people are looking for when it comes to reducing violent crime and gun violence.”
Biden was joined at the White House by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Eric Adams, community intervention leader as well as several mayors and police chiefs from major and mid-size U.S. cities to discuss his gun crime prevention strategy, which was unveiled last month.
The meeting comes amid an epidemic of gun violence in several of the nation’s largest cities, a growing political issue for Democrats and the central theme of Republicans’ effortto take over the House and Senate next year.
