administration today. >> reporter: white house officials have listened with alarm as they have heard repeatedly from law enforcement officials about a surge in violence throughout the country, a surge that is only exacerbated by the loosening of pandemic restrictions at covid-19 virus starts to in-with a oig throwain throughout the country. and this is not new, but it has caught the attention of the biden administration and the president plans to directly address it. he will meet behind closed doors with public officials, law enforcement, other groups involved in attempting to mitigate the surge in violence and then he will speak publicly, layout according to white house officials a package of elements that he believes will start to address this crisis or at least do something to address what is ongoing throughout the course of the last several months. this is not necessarily the silver bullet, but one that will attempt to get at the root causes. >> yes, we believe that central driver of violence is gun