ANALYSIS | Biden accompanies the families of Uvalde in mourning him, but it will be difficult to fulfill his promise to "do something" about gun control

Biden meets with victims of the massacre in Uvalde 5:37

(CNN) --

President Joe Biden climbed on the steps of his armored limousine and pointed a finger at protesters in Uvalde, Texas, who, in grief, begged him to "do something." to advance gun control after the horrific massacre at an elementary school.

"We will," Biden replied, adding a thumbs up, on a harrowing day as he and first lady Jill Biden fired the 19 children and two teachers killed last week in a barbaric attack that reignited the perennial and useless national debate on gun control.

• His mom was murdered in Uvalde, then his dad died of a heart attack...now people are donating millions for his family

But the chances of Biden doing "something" seem slim, given the executive branch's limited scope to reshape gun laws and the administration's difficulties in exerting its will in Washington.

And, despite the climate of national mourning, there is no sign of a fundamental change in the complicated policy that allows the Republican minority in the Senate to block meaningful action on gun legislation.

As usual, after a horrific carnage, there are optimistic sounds in Congress that gradual gun reform is possible.

But the stark lesson of recent history is that momentum fades with each passing day after the carnage.

The presidents travel to the places of the tragedies to express the solidarity and empathy of a shocked country, to try to offer a minimum of consolation to the relatives of the deceased and to galvanize the collective pain in a moment of national unity and action.

President Joe Biden addresses the crowd outside Sacred Heart Catholic Church after attending mass in Uvalde, Texas.

Biden, whose life has been marked by family tragedy and the loss of two of his children, was uniquely prepared for the first two requirements of his mission.

But given the mired reality of national politics and the GOP's fervent opposition to any change in gun laws, the idea that Uvalde is the moment when a critical mass of public anger overcomes political inertia seems far-fetched.

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The Department of Justice will investigate the response of law enforcement

However, in the most concrete sign of the federal government's response to Tuesday's Uvalde massacre, the Justice Department said it would review law enforcement's response to the shooting at Robb Elementary School.

CNN reported that 19 law enforcement officers stood outside the classroom where the children died for 50 minutes waiting for keys to the classroom and tactical gear.

The revelations raised the agonizing possibility that these deviations from protocols in case of armed attackers could have cost lives.

On the legislative front, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, said on CNN's "State of the Union" that he sensed a "different sentiment" among GOP colleagues, given the horror of the atrocity committed against the children of Texas.

But he warned that any eventual agreement will be limited.

And on the same show, Republican Congressman Dan Crenshaw of Texas underscored the slim chance of compromise on the GOP's position.

He rejected proposals such as universal background checks for gun purchases, red flag laws to keep guns away from people deemed a threat and a ban on people under 21 buying powerful semi-automatic rifles.

Like many Republicans, he called for increased security in schools.

The level of weaponry, training and security needed would cost many millions of dollars in an often underfunded public education system and would require children to effectively spend their formative years under heavy surveillance.

This is how the Uvalde community lives the duel after the shooting 6:28

The cost of this absolutist philosophical stance, which leads to the widespread availability of deadly weapons and routine mass murder, was painfully revealed in a harrowing interview conducted by CNN's Dana Bash with Adrian Alonzo, which lasted all day Tuesday. attempting to find her niece, Ellie Garcia, only to discover that she was among the people who perished.

"By far the worst day of my life. And I will never forget this day. I can replay those hours so vividly in my mind and it is etched in my mind," Alonzo said.

Ellie would have been 10 years old next Saturday.

Trump goes from mourning to politics against gun control

While the president's power may be limited, he did his emotional duty and more on Sunday afternoon, spending three hours with grieving families.

At one point, with the first lady beside him, he poignantly hugged Mandy Gutierrez, the principal of Robb Elementary School, next to a growing pile of flowers at a makeshift memorial.

Former President Donald Trump made no such trip, opting instead to solidify his position among GOP base voters at a time when his total control over his own movement is being questioned ahead of a possible House campaign. White in 2024.

Trump appeared at the National Rifle Association's (NRA) Institute for Legislative Action's annual leadership forum in Houston on Friday, less than 500 miles from Uvalde, and read the names of each of the the children and teachers massacred.

Uvalde, a town crushed by tragedy and pain after the massacre 2:49

“Every precious young soul that was taken is an incomprehensible loss,” Trump said, but he quickly turned to politics, lashing out at Biden and other Democrats for raising the issue of gun safety review after the Texas massacres already earlier this month in Buffalo, New York, both carried out by 18-year-olds with legally purchased semi-automatic weapons.

He argued that it was not fair that law-abiding gun owners should be deprived of them by the actions of "sick and demonic" attackers.

He proposed more guns in schools to keep children safe and to turn school buildings into fortresses.

And Trump unraveled the argument that even small reforms are a ruse to confiscate Americans' guns, points often used by the NRA and other conservatives.

"Once they get that first step, they'll take the second, the third, the fourth, and then you'll have a totally different view of the Second Amendment," Trump said.

The notion that even horrific carnage like the one that unfolded in Texas last week must never diminish Americans' freedom to own high-powered weapons of war resonates in the more rural states normally represented by Republicans, where Trump remains being very popular.

It also helps explain why even those GOP senators who might be willing to take modest steps to keep deadly weapons out of the hands of killers find it so hard to vote and why it's hard to reach the 60-vote threshold needed to pass important legislation, a Senate rule that even some moderate Democrats are unwilling to change.

One Republican who is changing his position is Adam Kinzinger.

The Illinois congressman said he was now open to a ban on AR-15 rifles following the spate of mass shootings.

Uvalde attacker hid in closet to shoot officers 1:12

"Look, I've opposed a ban, you know, pretty recently. I think I'm now open to a ban. It's going to depend on how it goes because there's a lot of nuance to what constitutes, you know, certain things," Kinzinger said. CNN's Bash on "State of the Union" when asked if he still opposes "a ban on the type of assault weapons used in the shooting."

Kinzinger, however, is not a cross-section of the GOP, having broken free of the party's orthodoxy by breaking with Trump, including over his lies about voter fraud.

He has decided not to run for re-election in the fall and is therefore no longer beholden to GOP activists who would regard his comment as heresy.

But the argument that any restrictions on the purchase and ownership of guns would unacceptably infringe on the rights of law-abiding gun owners is inherently political.

Although the Constitution says that the right to bear arms must not be infringed, it does not say that Americans have the right to have any weapon of their choice, especially those that shoot with a lethality that the founders could never have imagined.

And the campaign against tougher gun laws prioritizes the rights of gun owners over those of innocent victims, like those in Texas who last week had their right to life destroyed in an instant.

So entrenched are these positions that the feeling of helplessness in the face of repeated massacres does not seem to be dissipating quickly.

It's easy to imagine Biden and the first lady soon turning up at another vigil for the victims of the killings.

For the president, doing "something" could be impossible.

Joe BidenShooting in Texas