President Barack Obama, frustrated by congressional inaction on gun violence three years after the the Sandy Hook massacre, is taking measures to enlist the help of governors and other state officials to enact and enforce gun control laws at the state and local levels.
"I refuse to give up on this," Obama wrote in a 900-word Facebook post on Monday, the anniversary of the Newtown shootings, reported The Guardian. "I still believe that we can get this right,” he said. "We may not have a Congress that’s willing to work with us on this right now. So the rest of us will have to do what we can."
That strategy includes the White House turning to state governments across the country.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said, in a White House briefing, that Vice President Joe Biden has been leading the talks which are focused on "steps they can take to try to reduce gun violence in their communities." He added that Biden is "actively engaged with leaders across the country, including at the state and local level, about steps they can take to protect their communities from gun violence."
Vice President Joe Biden will lead the initiative. On Monday he posted a series of tweets, noting in one of them that, "It is shameful that Congress hasn't acted."
Since that nightmare, an estimated 555 children have been killed by guns in America. It is shameful that Congress hasn't acted.
— Vice President Biden (@VP) December 14, 2015
Some states like Virginia have already begun taking executive action, which included gun tracing for guns used in crimes, banning guns in state offices and launching a gun crime tip hotline, according to The Washington Times.
"I think what people are realizing, and I have realized as governor, is that we have a tremendous number of tools at our disposal to take action," Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat who signed an executive order on guns in October, told USA Today.
