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The only solution, Biden told reporters at a Labor Day event in Cedar Rapids, is to defeat Republicans in the elections 15 months away — “flat-out beat them,” as he put it.
Biden, the Democratic front-runner, has made bipartisanship a theme of his campaign and talked about working with Republicans, including Sen. Mitch McConnell. But Biden took the unequivocal stand on expanded background checks and other measures when asked if there was room to reach a compromise with McConnell, the Senate majority leader.
“None, none on this. I think this is no compromise. This is one we have to just push and push and push and push and push,” he said.
Biden was among several Democratic presidential candidates who demanded over the Labor Day weekend that congressional Republicans enact new background check legislation when Congress returns to work next week.
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At a town hall-style meeting Sunday in Raymond, New Hampshire, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont bemoaned the “dysfunctionality of Congress” on gun control measures. And Monday, several candidates took unbending stands on background checks while talking to reporters across Iowa and New Hampshire.
Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, who was also campaigning in Cedar Rapids on Monday, said background checks were already “a very middle of the road, rather conservative compromise” and signaled Democrats needed to stand firm on proposals for background checks.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who, like Biden and Buttigieg, holds a mix of progressive and moderate views, said background checks were “the minimum that we should do.”
With their remarks, the Democrats were seeking to add more pressure to President Donald Trump, who indicated openness to background checks after the El Paso and Dayton shootings, and McConnell, who has promised a Senate debate this fall. The Democratic-led House has already passed background check legislation this year, but the National Rifle Association has pressured Trump and other Republican leaders to back off new steps on background checks.
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