Obama to offer first steps toward shooting response President Obama will give the first glimpse of his policy response to mass shootings in an appearance Wednesday morning in which he'll name Vice President Joe Biden to lead the effort, according to the White House. Obama is not expected to announce specific policies in the appearance before reporters in the West Wing briefing room, but rather to lay out the process by which his administration will proceed, according to an aide. The event comes five days after the shooting that killed children and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. The tragedy shocked the nation and spurred the president to pledge a broad-based response. Obama aides have resisted talking about particular solutions this week. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney did say Tuesday that Obama would support measures in Congress to ban the sale of assault weapons and close the legal loopholes that allow some firearms to be sold at gun shows without the same background checks required at other points of sale. But an advisor to the president said he also wants to look at the problem of gun violence more broadly with several government agencies involved in the process. That is the effort he is tapping Biden to lead. Biden is expected to join the president in the briefing room for the announcement.