Washington – President Biden on Thursday announced his first attempts to curb gun violence and announced a set of modest moves designed to revamp federal gun policy by adapting the government’s definition of a firearm and responding more aggressively to urban gun violence.
“Gun violence in this country is an epidemic, and it is an international embarrassment,” he said. Biden said in his remarks about the action. He calls a high degree of gun violence a ‘lack of character of our country’.
He pushed back against arguments that this executive action infringed on the right to bear arms. The changes include a revision of the federal policy on ghost guns – handmade or self-assembled firearms that do not contain serial numbers – and the use of stabilizing wires on pistols, a change that turns the weapon into a short-range rifle.
“Nothing I am about to recommend affects the Second Amendment,” the president said. Mr. Biden said he wants ghost weapons that are “treated like firearms” and that key parts are marked with serial numbers. He also said he wants modified pistols to be more dangerous, subject to the National Firearms Act, which means owners must register and pay a fee for the modifications.
The president urges the Senate to succeed bills passed in the House to extend background checks. He also called on Congress to authorize the Violence Against Women Act, which would close the so-called ‘boyfriend loophole’, to prevent friends and stalkers convicted of domestic violence or abuse from buying firearms. and possession.
“Whether Congress acts or not, I will use all the resources at my disposal as President of the United States to protect Americans from gun violence,” he said. Biden said.
The president also called on Congress to pass a ban on assault weapons. He helped as a senator in 1994 to keep a ban on Congress, but it expired in 2004. However, the measures called for by the president are opposed by most Republicans, meaning they are unlikely to succeed in the Senate. Most legislation requires 60 votes to advance in the Senate, and Democrats have a 50-seat majority.
But Mr. Biden insists there is a ‘common ground’ between Republicans and Democrats, noting that gun control measures are overwhelmingly popular among the American people.
“I know it is painful and frustrating that we have not made the progress we were hoping for,” he said. Biden said. “No matter how long it takes, we’ll make it happen. We’re not going to give up.”
Mr. Biden on Thursday also nominated David Chipman, a former special agent at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), to lead the agency. Chipman, an expert on gun violence in recent years, has served for many years as policy director for Giffords, the gun control organization founded by former Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who was assassinated in 2011.
If confirmed, Chipman would be the agency’s first permanent director in more than six years. Due to the loaded nature of gun politics, only one ATF director has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate in the past 15 years, leading the agency mostly through a series of acting bosses.
The president formally announced the election Thursday when he unveiled other steps he has taken through executive action to address gun violence. Attorney General Merrick Garland has joined him, whose justice department will be tasked with taking some of his most aggressive steps on gun policy in more than a decade.
Gun advocates are urging the president to classify ghost guns as traditional firearms, a move that requires everyone who buys them to undergo a federal background check. On Thursday, Mr. Bid the Justice Department given 30 days to issue potential changes to federal rules, to help stop the proliferation of weapons, according to the White House.
Due to the handmade nature of the weapons, ghost guns can often not be detected by law enforcement because serial numbers are not required.
The Department of Justice is also given 60 days to issue a proposed rule regarding the stabilization of brackets. Attaching such a brace to a pistol makes the firearm more stable and essentially converts it into a short-range rifle subject to federal law. The White House noted that the alleged shooter in the March shooting in Boulder, Colorado, seems to use a pistol with a prop.
The Department of Justice has also been asked to draft model legislation to introduce ‘red flag’ state-level laws. Lawmakers in both parties have been campaigning for federal and state laws for years that would temporarily ban people experiencing mental anguish or other personal crises from gaining access to firearms if law enforcement or a judge determines that they pose a danger to themselves or others.
“I’m under no illusions about how difficult it is to solve the problems of gun violence, and I know the Department of Justice cannot solve the problem,” Garland said in brief remarks. “But there is work that the department needs to do, and we intend to do that.”
To curb the increase in homicides nationwide, the Biden government is also asking five federal agencies to adjust more than two dozen government programs to help nationwide community violence intervention programs. The White House noted that the president’s U.S. Jobs Plan proposes to spend $ 5 billion over eight years to support state and city-based violence intervention programs.
The new plans quickly gained support from national arms control organizations on Wednesday night.
John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, said in a statement that the moves “will address the epidemic of gun violence that has raged throughout the pandemic and will begin to live up to Bifes’ promise to be the strongest president for gun safety. He later added that the decision to target ghost guns and “treat them like deadly weapons would undoubtedly save countless lives – as would the critical funding provided to groups focusing on city gun violence. word. ”
Kris Brown, president of the arms control organization Brady, said in a statement that Biden’s actions would ‘have an immediate impact’.
“President Biden’s actions are historic and will have an immediate impact. These are tangible and powerful policies that will save lives,” Brown said.
Organizations campaigning for stricter gun laws and Democratic lawmakers have been pushing for years for the federal government to reclassify ghost guns and force buyers to undergo background checks.
“Ghost guns are guns, too. And it’s time to close the gap,” said Democratic Congressman Adriano Espaillat, who is pushing for legislation to regulate ghost guns. tweeted on Wednesday.
The NRA, meanwhile, immediately pushed back the plans. The organization tweeted Wednesday night that the actions were ‘extreme’ and wrote ‘the NRA is ready to fight’.
“These actions could require law-abiding citizens to hand over legal property, and could pressure states to extend the seizure of weapons seizures,” the NRA tweeted.
Meanwhile, Republican Senator Pat Toomey, who co-sponsored the background test legislation not passed in Congress in 2013, said in a statement that he and his staff opposed the actions of Mr. Bid review.
“I appreciate President Biden’s strong willingness to work with Republicans and Democrats to achieve this goal. If done in a way that respects the rights of law-abiding citizens, I believe there is an opportunity to change our background check system strengthen so that we are better able to keep guns away from those who have no legal right to them, ”Toomey said.
Due to the lack of a serial number, ghost guns are becoming increasingly popular but difficult to locate, and ghost guns have been used in several shooting-related crimes in recent years.
The Biden government has been reluctant to discuss arms control in public amid the initial focus on the COVID-19 pandemic and related economic downturn. During his first formal news conference last month, the president indicated that he would not address the issue, despite the recent mass shootings in Georgia and Colorado, and that his government would focus primarily on the response of legislation to the pandemic. and its multi-trillion dollars. infrastructure plan.
His decision enabled critics to elucidate how Mr. Biden has fulfilled a striking campaign promise. Mr. Biden appeared in Nevada in February 2020 and promised to pass legislation on his first day in Congress that would repeal the protection of gun manufacturing liability and the closing of loopholes in the federal arms background control system.
Administrators have been saying for weeks that plans are still ongoing – an attitude that has not changed following the recent shootings in Atlanta and Boulder, Colorado.
Corey Rangel, Nancy Cordes, Kristin Brown and Fin Gomez contributed to this report.