President Biden on Monday convened a group of federal law enforcement and community leaders at the White House to discuss his administration’s comprehensive strategy to reduce gun crimes, saying there is “no one-size-fits-all approach” to combating gun violence and doubling down on the need to hire more police officers and crack down on illegal firearms.
The president, on Monday, hosted a number of administration officials, including Attorney General Merrick Garland, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, White House counsel Dana Remus and domestic policy adviser Susan Rice, as well as mayors from Washington, D.C., and San Jose, California, and police chiefs from Memphis, Chicago, Wilmington, N.C., and Newark, N.J.
The president welcomed attendees, noting that he and the attorney general have “been at this a long time,” adding that it “seems like most of my career I’ve been dealing with this issue.”
“There is no one-size-fits-all approach,” the president said. “We know there are some things that work, and the first of those that work is stemming the flow of firearms used to commit violent crimes.”
The president said that includes “cracking down on holding rogue gun dealers accountable for violating the federal law. That includes the Justice Department creating five new strike forces to crack down on illegal gun trafficking in the corridor, supplying weapons to cities of New York, to the Bay Area.”
“Our strategy provides, including funding for law enforcement through the American Rescue Plan for states, cities, and to be able to hire police and pay them overtime in order to advance community policing,” the president said, adding that the administration’s plan also will “invest in community violence intervention.”
