RICHMOND, Va (WTVR) -- Virginia Commonwealth University is already a busy campus and when you factor in a visit by the Vice President of the United States, things then went from busy to chaotic earlier today. There was a round table discussion that began at 11 o'clock inside the VCU Student Commons. The group taking part consisted of a selective group of 15 people.
Vice President Joe Biden heads the president's gun violence task force. Today he was joined by other members of the Obama administration to include Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, Deputy U.S. Attorney General Jim Cole, Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to the Vice President Bruce Reed and Deputy Assistant to the President & Counselor to the Senior Advisor for Strategic Engagement Michael Strautmanis.
Also on hand was Senator Tim Kaine, Congressman Bobby Scott and a handful of community members--including VCU President Michael Rao.
Friday's discussion centered around gun-control as battles over the issue are already brewing in the General Assembly. In fact Virginia lawmakers have been debating a bill that could mandate private gun sellers conduct criminal background checks--which currently is not required.
CBS 6 political analyst Dr. Bob Holsworth believes talks regarding federal versus state legislation will likely lead the roundtable discussion Friday.
"The Vice President is going to be talking about federal legislation," Dr. Holsworth said. "What has happened is there are a set of initiatives that most of the Democrats brought up in the General Assembly and most of them have already met there fate--which has not been a good one for those bills in the Senate and the House."
Dr. Holsworth believes Biden came to the River City because of the impact Virginia had during the November elections and said the Commonwealth could also play a pivotal part in gun legislation.
