White House accuses Comer of doing the bidding of the gun lobby

The White House accused House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) of doing the bidding of the gun lobby, pushing back on claims from the Republican that the White House was colluding with gun violence prevention groups in legal matters.

In a letter first obtained by the Hill, the White House on Monday called on Comer and the House GOP to work with them on gun violence prevention.

The letter, from deputy counsel to the president Rachel Cotton, was in response to Comer’s letter to the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention on July 14. It said his committee is investigating collaboration between the Biden administration and anti-gun groups that are plaintiffs in pending litigation.

The White House, in response, listed Biden’s work on preventing gun violence and cited data the violent crime has decreased under this administration. It also suggested Comer “should open a real investigation into an actual danger to our communities: the proliferation of illegal devices that convert handguns into machineguns in a matter of seconds.”

“The President has been clear that the Administration cannot fight this crisis alone. Congress has an important role to play in reducing gun violence. The President has called on Congress to ban assault weapons, bump stocks, and high-capacity magazines; establish universal background checks; require the safe storage of firearms; and repeal gun manufacturers’ immunity from liability. Such actions would save lives and help keep American communities safe,” Cotton wrote to Comer.

She added, “The House Majority should work with the President on these real solutions, instead of doing the gun lobby’s bidding by launching a baseless political attack on the Biden Administration under the guise of an ‘investigation.’”

Comer’s investigation references a lawsuit filed by the city of Chicago and Everytown Law, a gun violence prevention group, alleging Glock Inc. sold guns that can be converted into automatic weapons, Newsweek reported at the time.

Comer claimed the White House met with Glock to ask that the company make it harder for parts that could make a gun an automatic weapon be installed. He asked the White House for communication and information on the matter, including interactions with Everytown Law.