Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy pressed White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Thursday on the administration’s plan to tackle gun violence.
Doocy, referencing President Joe Biden’s call for Congress to act on gun violence, asked the press secretary if the president plans to spend time with lawmakers at his beach house north of Rehoboth Beach in Delaware. The president and First Lady Jill Biden plan to celebrate her 71st birthday there this weekend, according to Cape Gazette.
“His whole thing was that he knows how to get things done in Congress,” Doocy pressed.
“He does, he does,” Jean-Pierre interjected. “He’s beaten the gun lobby before, he has.”
“Then why not invite these lawmakers who maybe haven’t beaten the gun lobby and say ‘this is how it’s done?,'” Doocy continued. Jean-Pierre repeated that Biden has combated and defeated the gun lobby while serving in Congress. (RELATED: Jean-Pierre Says Biden Doesn’t Care About ‘Hardening Schools’)
“You want to go to the beach with the president tonight? Is that what you’re trying to tell me?” she joked.
“If people are dying everyday, why is the president then saying that he wants to give it some space and let somebody else—”
The press secretary argued the president will address the recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, and Tulsa, Oklahoma later Thursday in the White House Cross Hall and he had been involved during his presidency to combat gun violence.
“The president has indeed taken action. He cannot do it alone, so he’s asking for Congress to act,” she said. “The American public is going to hear from him tonight. I don’t have any meetings to preview or to lay out for you. I’m not telling you it’s not going to happen, I’m just saying I don’t have anything to preview for you today.”
Doocy then asked about a potential law that would prevent certain people from purchasing or obtaining a gun. She listed red flag laws and the president’s calls for Congress to “take action.”
“Well, they’re having negotiations right now to talk through what the options are. I mentioned the red flag laws. If enacted, we have seen across the country that in different states, it has been helpful. We are going to give them some space to see what they come up with. The most important thing here is that the president wants Congress to take action and to act.”
Doocy pushed back by pointing to 47 victims shot in Chicago over Memorial Day weekend, despite having some of the strictest gun laws in the country.
“Which law would have prevented that?” he asked. “Do we think all of these people in Chicago that are shooting each other are legally buying their guns?”
Jean-Pierre mentioned the red flag laws effectively preventing shootings in Florida, California, Connecticut and Indiana, then said the administration’s push for expanded background checks will prevent firearms from getting “into the hands of criminals.”
“There are things here that can be worked out, that can be done, that is not going to prevent every tragedy but will take us to a better place so we can protect our families,” she continued.
Doocy lastly asked if Biden’s planned speech is scheduled to distract the press and the American public from the new reports on inflation and the baby formula shortage. Jean-Pierre argued that the recent mass shootings are the reason the president is addressing the nation, not partisan politics.
“People have died in the past couple of weeks in particular,” she said. “This is not about politics, this is not about partisan politics here, this is something that he has worked on since he was a senator. This is very important and real for the president and for the grieving families that he has met with, sadly in the last two weeks. So this is an opportunity to call for action, to get Congress to move. It is disheartening to hear that this could potentially be used as a political tool and that’s not what this is.”