Gun Safety Groups Still Like Biden, Even If Other Progressives Don’t

There’s plenty of disappointment directed at Joe Biden by the left. But gun control advocates are largely pleased with his progress.

President Joe Biden speaks at the National Safer Communities Summit
President Joe Biden led passage of the first major gun safety bill in three decades. Susan Walsh/AP

One by one, the advocacy groups that made up the Biden coalition have started to drift from him, frustrated with everything from his stance on Gaza to his increasingly harsh immigration talk. But gun control advocates are sticking by his side — the last man standing of the left-leaning coalition of progressive advocacy groups that Joe Biden brought together to win in 2020.

A private meeting with gun control advocates at the White House last week helps illustrate why. The advocates asked the heads of the Office of Gun Violence Prevention whether a future president could shut down the office that Biden set up to give advocates a direct line to Pennsylvania Avenue.

“If the office goes away, then our voice goes away in some aspects,” meeting attendee Dr. Chico Tillmon, the executive director of the Community Violence Intervention Leadership Academy, told NOTUS. The graduates from CVI were honored at the White House last week.