CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Joe Biden dismissed a Trump administration push to expedite capital punishment for those convicted of mass murder.

The former vice president told reporters during a campaign stop in Iowa Monday that in the wake of mass shootings like the west Texas tragedy over the weekend that claimed seven lives, plus the shooter, gun control is a more effective approach.

"It's irrelevant. Look, it's what we've always done before in the past. What do you do when you can't get something done that's rational? You increase the penalty," Biden said. "That's irrational. It has nothing to do with rational gun policy."

The Justice Department wrote the proposal as part of the White House's legislative package addressing the recent spate of gun violence. It will be one of the bills lawmakers debate when they return to Washington, D.C., after the August recess, according to Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff Marc Short. Pence is working in tandem with Attorney General William Barr on the issue.

Biden made the comments during one of his two stops on his Labor Day trip to Iowa. He told reporters during his visit to the Hawkeye Area Labor Council's holiday picnic he didn't envision Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, compromising with congressional Democrats on gun reform — and that Democrats on Capitol Hill shouldn't compromise with half measures.

"This is one where we'll have to just push, push, push, and push and push," said Biden, a 36-year Delaware senator and former chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Biden had earlier claimed President Trump lacked the "intestinal fortitude" to stand up to the gun manufacturing lobby.

Mass shooting sprees were reported this weekend in Odessa and Midland, Texas, where seven people were killed and more than 19 were wounded. The day after the shooting, new gun laws that loosened some restrictions went into effect in Texas.