New York City mayoral front-runner and Brooklyn borough president Eric Adams is in Washington, D.C., Monday for a high-profile strategy session with President Joe Biden on crime and gun violence at the White House.
The newly minted Democratic nominee will join the president, Attorney General Merrick Garland and other big-city mayors and police chiefs on Monday, the White House said.
“The meeting (will) discuss the administration’s comprehensive strategy to reduce gun crimes,” a White House spokesperson said.
Along with Adams, the meeting will include Mayor Muriel Bowser of Washington, D.C., and Mayor Sam Liccardo of San Jose, California, where a disgruntled transit worker recently killed nine co-workers in the latest gun rampage.
Top police officials from Chicago, Memphis and Newark will also take part.
Biden is seeking to show that he is not willing to cede the issue of crime to Republicans, who have traditionally made law and order a key part of their pitch to voters.
Adams, a retired NYPD captain, has made keeping a lid on crime his signature issue in the mayoral campaign.
He is also seeking to raise his national profile by portraying himself as a new brand of Democratic leader who will focus more on real-life issues and less on partisan sniping at former President Donald Trump.
Adams has called for a renewed crackdown on handguns, which he blames for violence in inner-city neighborhoods, as opposed to assault weapons.
Gun control advocates have mostly focused attention on restricting assault weapons that are often used in mass shootings because they can hold more ammunition and kill more people faster.
Gun rights advocates oppose virtually all restrictions on gun ownership. They will likely fight even harder against any new effort to make it more difficult to buy handguns, which they see as a key method of self-defense.
