The Obama administration has made progress toward reducing gun violence, according to Vice President Joe Biden, who is encouraging Congress to make new efforts to expand background checks on gun purchasers,
the Christian Science Monitor reports.
On Jan. 16, President Barack Obama detailed 23 gun-safety actions that he could take, without Congressional approval, following the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, Conn.
Biden was to say on Tuesday that 21 of the proposals have been completed or seen "significant progress," the Monitor reported.
The vice president was to announce additional money designated for gun-violence reduction and mental-health research, more data sharing between federal and state agencies, and updated emergency management plans.
"These steps — ranging from ending the freeze on gun-violence research, to addressing barriers that keep states from submitting records to the background-check system, to making sure federal law enforcement agencies trade guns recovered in investigations — will help keep our streets and our communities safe," the White House said in a "Progress Report on the President's Executive Actions to Reduce Gun Violence."
The report details the actions taken so far and actions that the Obama administration is asking from Congress.
Bipartisan gun legislation failed to pass in the Senate in April, but the White House is again asking Congress "to pass legislation that would expand the background-check requirement to most private gun sales."
Democratic strategist Peter Fenn told the Christian Science Monitor that this is an issue Biden believes in.
Last week marked six months since the shootings in Newtown. The Monitor notes that there have been almost 5,200 people killed by guns in the United States during that six-month period.
"This is something that continues to be at the top of the agenda of both the president and vice president," an unidentified White House
official told the Huffington Post.