Voters already believe that the gun restrictions the White House is pushing are in place, Vice President Biden said Thursday.
Biden was speaking at an event in New York's City Hall alongside New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I). Biden praised Bloomberg for his advocacy of stricter gun laws.
In introducing Biden, Bloomberg noted that the vice president has pushed for a number of proposals to reduce gun violence, including reinstating a federal assault weapons ban, a limit on how many bullets can go in a magazine clips and universal background checks for gun sales.
Biden said recent polling data he's seen has shown Americans already think the new restrictions are in place.
"Combined, these are commonsense approaches, that ironically, Mr. Mayor, in the polling data we've done recently — the American people already think that these gun safety proposals are in place," Biden said. "The American people — a significant number — already think that universal background checks ... they already think that anyone buys multiple guns has to be reported.
"So the irony here is what we're proposing is common sense, that the American people ... says 'Guess what, we think you've already done that.' "
Biden's comments come as the Senate prepares to vote on a number of gun violence proposals.
Earlier in the week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) decided to drop a vote on an assault weapons ban and instead seek to pass a set of proposals centered around a proposal to reduce gun straw purchasing and illegal gun trafficking. Reid said the assault weapons proposal would not win more than 40 votes.
On Wednesday Biden said that he and the White House are still pushing to pass a ban as well as the other measures.
"I'm still pushing that it pass — we are still pushing that it pass. The same thing was told to me when the first assault weapons ban in '94 was attached to the Biden crime bill, that it couldn't possibly pass," Biden said.
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