In Connecticut, Biden urges action on gun control

Vice president says America has changed on gun control in wake of Newtown shooting

3/7/2013

FILE - In this Jan. 9, 2013 file photo, Vice President Joe Biden, with Attorney General Eric Holder at left, speaks during a meeting with victims' groups and gun safety organizations in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington. Biden plans to speak at a gun violence conference a few miles from the scene of last year’s Newtown, Conn., school shooting massacre on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

DANBURY, Conn. — Vice President Joe Biden is trying to rally support for the administration's proposals to curb gun violence, saying there will be a moral price to pay for inaction.

Biden is speaking today at a conference in Danbury, Conn., just a few miles from the scene of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. He says that America has changed its views of gun control since the Dec. 14 massacre of 26 people inside the Newtown school.

Other speakers, including the parents of a 7-year-old girl killed at Sandy Hook, urged Congress to honor the memories of the victims with strong action.

Meanwhile, Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced he wants to immediately ban high-capacity ammunition magazines, require background checks for the transfer of firearms and expand the state's assault weapons ban.