Biden to huddle with Murphy on Senate gun negotiations

President Biden is meeting with Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Tuesday to discuss ongoing negotiations among senators working to come to a consensus on gun violence-related legislation, the White House said.

It will be Biden’s first such meeting since the bipartisan talks on guns kicked off following the mass shooting at a Texas school.

“This morning, the President will meet with Senator Chris Murphy (CT) to discuss ongoing negotiations in the Senate on gun reform,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tweeted.

The meeting was expected to take place privately at the White House.

Murphy is leading the gun talks for Democrats, while Sen. John Cornyn (Texas) is the lead Republican negotiator.

The senators said Monday they were making progress but needed more time to reach an agreement following a meeting that also included Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.).

The negotiators are exploring measures that would reform background checks and encourage states to adopt red flag laws.

Cornyn said Monday that the negotiators were not considering bans on assault rifles or high-capacity magazines or raising the age for purchasing assault weapons from 18 to 21, despite Biden publicly pushing for those legislative solutions in a prime-time address last week.

Still, the White House has viewed the ongoing negotiations with some optimism. Jean-Pierre told reporters on Monday that while officials were in regular contact with congressional offices about gun reform, they would give space for the negotiations to proceed.

“We are encouraged and we think these incremental steps, these steps that they’re taking, this conversation that they’re having, is very important for the moment,” Jean-Pierre said.

Biden’s decision to meet with Murphy is notable given the distance he has kept so far from the talks that began after an 18-year-old opened fire in Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and killed 19 children and two teachers.

Biden, himself a former senator, said last week he would meet with lawmakers on guns but the White House didn’t offer a timeline.

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who said last month he would only give Senate Republicans a short amount of time to agree on compromise legislation before putting bills crafted by Democrats to a vote, said Tuesday he was encouraging Murphy to keep the talks going.

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