Biden and gun control advocates want to flip an issue long dominated by the NRA

ATLANTA (AP) — Groups pushing tighter gun laws have been building political muscle through multiple elections, boosted by the outcry following mass shootings at schools and other public places, in addition to the nation’s daily gun violence.

Now, gun control advocates and many Democrats see additional openings created by hard-line positions of the gun lobby and their most influential champion, former President Donald Trump. They also point to controversies surrounding the National Rifle Association, which has undergone leadership shuffles and membership declines after a key former executive was found to have expensed private jet flights and accepted vacations from group vendors.

“It is a false choice to suggest that you have to be in favor of the Second Amendment or you want to take everyone’s guns away,” Vice President Kamala Harris said Friday in Maryland, where she spoke as part of a series of White House and campaign events focused on gun violence. President Joe Biden is speaking Tuesday at a conference hosted by Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund.

Biden’s campaign says gun control could be a motivating issue for suburban college-educated women who may be decisive in several key battlegrounds this fall. The Democratic campaign and its allies have already circulated clips of Trump, a Republican, saying, “We have to get over it,” after an Iowa school shooting in January and then telling NRA members in May that he “did nothing” on guns during his presidency.

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