Biden talks gun control, extremism with New Zealand PM

WASHINGTON >> President Joe Biden praised New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Tuesday for her success in curbing domestic extremism and guns as he tries to persuade a reluctant Congress to tighten gun laws in the aftermath of horrific mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York.

The long-planned talks between Biden and Ardern centered on trade, climate and security in the Indo-Pacific, but the two leaders' starkly different experiences in pushing for gun control loomed large in the conversation.

Ardern successfully won passage of gun control measures in her country after a white supremacist gunman killed 51 Muslim worshippers at two Christchurch mosques in 2019. Less than a month later, all but one of the country's 120 lawmakers voted in favor of banning military-style semiautomatic weapons.

Biden said at the start of his meeting with Ardern that he “will meet with the Congress on guns, I promise you,” but the White House has acknowledged that winning new gun legislation will be an uphill climb in an evenly divided Congress. The U.S. president praised Ardern for her “galvanizing leadership” on New Zealand's efforts to curb the spread of extremism online, and said he wanted to hear more about the conversations in her country about the issue. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the two leaders spent part of the meeting discussing “what has been done on gun reform” under Ardern's watch.

Ardern and French President Emmanuel Macron in 2019 launched an effort to work with tech companies on eliminating terrorist and violent extremist content online. Then-President Donald Trump declined to join the effort, but the Biden administration has since joined the Christchurch Call to Action. Biden over the weekend traveled to Uvalde, Texas, to grieve with a community he said made clear to him they want to see tighter gun laws in the aftermath of the shooting rampage that killed 19 children and two teachers.