White House mulls executive action on gun control as legislation stalls in Senate

The White House is considering executive action to address gun violence in the wake of two mass shootings that rocked the country over the past several days. President Biden has urged Congress to take action quickly and address gun control bills passed in the House, but this legislation has foundered in the evenly divided Senate.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told CBS News during a press conference on Wednesday that there are "current discussions" in the White House about taking executive action on gun control. "Executive actions are of course an important lever that every president has at their disposal. There is current discussions and analysis internally of what steps can be taken. That has been ongoing for several weeks, even before these two recent tragedies," Psaki said, adding that the president was "not waiting for anything to fail." Psaki did not specifically describe what the executive actions could entail, but said that the administration would want to address access to firearms as well as "community violence."