Top gun safety groups endorse President Biden

WASHINGTON — The nation’s most prominent gun safety groups are joining together to back President Joe Biden in 2024, an early endorsement that underscores Biden’s grip on key Democratic coalitions as the party seizes on gun policy as a politically advantageous issue ahead of his re-election campaign.

The endorsement, obtained by The Associated Press in advance of the formal release, represents the first time the groups have jointly announced support for a presidential candidate. The groups include Brady and its youth-led arm, Team Enough; Community Justice Action Fund; Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund and its grassroots networks, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action; and Giffords.

It also follows similar joint endorsements from abortion rights groups, labor unions and climate organizations — a strategy meant to demonstrate Biden’s strength among various party constituencies as he faces nominal primary challengers and skepticism from many Democratic voters over whether he should run for a second term.

In their endorsement, the groups pointed to the Biden administration’s record in establishing policies meant to reduce gun violence — most notably a bipartisan law enacted last year that marked the most comprehensive effort to restrict access to firearms in three decades.

“President Biden and Vice President Harris are leading the strongest gunsense administration in American history, a title they have earned by doing everything in their power to protect our families and communities,” said Angela Ferrell-Zabala, Executive Director of Moms Demand Action.

In all, the groups represent 15 million members. The endorsement also comes as Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at an Everytown event in Chicago on Friday.

Officials said the endorsement allows them to make an early and frequent contrast with Republican presidential hopefuls who are seeking to loosen gun laws at a time when gun violence is on the rise in the U.S., while mobilizing voters critical to Biden’s re-election strategy, such as suburban women, voters of color and younger voters.

Biden’s rhetoric has grown ever stronger around guns, including routinely calling for banning so-called assault weapons, political term to describe guns most often used in mass shootings with the capacity to kill a lot of people quickly. And he pushes a platform restricting guns that was all but politically unthinkable for Democrats as recently as Barack Obama’s term.

“We have taken the politics of yore and turned them on their head,” said Peter Ambler, the executive director of Giffords. “It is now a scarlet letter, not a badge of honor, to have the NRA endorsement.”