Biden meets Adams to move gun violence up the agenda

Significance

The meeting with Adams indicates that Biden is moving gun violence up his administration’s agenda, with an emphasis on reducing the movement of illegal firearms. Policing and urban violence remain a difficult area for Democrats but the rise in incidents during 2021 makes it impossible to ignore.

Impacts

• Most Democrats have rejected calls to defund the police but its remains an effective issue for Republicans to exploit.
• Federal efforts to limit the flow of illegal guns from southern states to northern population centres will increase.
• The rise in both gun ownership and gun crime will highlight the relationship between guns and the Constitution but not alter it.
• Republicans may seek to repeat Donald Trump’s political success in linking illegal immigration with rising crime.