The vice president also says the president won't wait for Congress to curb gun violence.
Since the Sandy Hook Elementary shootings, lawmakers have pledged to finally tackle gun control legislation. But given the chance that congressional lawmakers will continue to duck the issue for fear of how it would affect them at the polls, Vice President Joe Biden says the White House won't wait.
A task force led by Biden has been meeting this week with various stakeholders on both sides of the controversial issue. The group will present its recommendations to President Obama by Tuesday, ahead of the Jan. 31 deadline, the vice president announced on Thursday.
"This doesn't mean it is the end of the discussion, but the public wants us to act," he told reporters.
The task force has met with representatives of gun violence survivors' groups and gun control and gun safety groups, and will meet later today with representatives from the National Rifle Association. In addition to meeting with entertainment and video game executives, Biden says he also hopes to hold a conference call with gun manufacturers this week.
"There has got to be some common ground, to not solve every problem but diminish the probability" of future mass shootings, he said. "That's what this is all about. There are no conclusions I have reached."
On Wednesday, the vice president suggested that the administration is prepared to take some steps on its own to help stop gun violence.
"The president is going to act. Executive orders, executive action, can be taken," Biden told reporters. "We haven't decided what this is yet, but we're compiling it all with the help of the attorney general and all the rest of the cabinet members."
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(Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
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