WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden will try to curb ‘ghost guns’ and make it easier for people to identify family members who should not be allowed to buy firearms as part of a series of executive actions Thursday following the recent mass shooting.
Attempts to find dual agreement for popular gun control measures have thwarted, even though lawmakers have openly advocated for provisions such as tightening the background.
Biden’s actions are limited and are likely to continue to receive legitimate opposition from gun rights advocates, who view any attempt to restrict access as a violation of the Second Amendment.
Biden is expected to appear in the Rose Garden and will join Vice President Kamala Harris and Attorney General Merrick Garland. A number of Democratic congressmen, gun control attorneys and local officials are also expected to attend.
Biden is also expected to announce the appointment of David Chipman, a gun control lawyer, to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF.
The White House outlined the planned executive actions, arguing that Biden’s instructions to the Department of Justice would limit access to guns.
Biden will order the DOJ to draw up rules that will reduce the proliferation of ‘ghost guns’, homemade firearms, which are regularly made from parts purchased online and which do not have traceable serial numbers.
Biden will also try to reduce access to stabilizing brackets, which can effectively turn a pistol into a more lethal rifle without complying with the same regulations as a rifle of similar size would be.
Finally, he will ask the DOJ to publish “red flag” model laws so that states can use a guide. Red flag laws allow family members or law enforcement agencies to request state courts to temporarily stop people from acquiring firearms if they pose a danger to themselves or others.
Biden will also order the DOJ to issue a report on the firearms trade, which has not been done since 2000. He will also announce support for programs aimed at “reducing violence in urban communities through tools other than incarceration,” according to a fact sheet shared by the White House.
Biden came under pressure from Democrats and gun control activists to take immediate action to address gun violence following shootings in Georgia, Colorado and California. House Democrats have passed gun control legislation, but even among Democrats in the Senate, there is not enough support to advance the bill.
Gun control activists also criticized Biden for not making gun control legislation an early priority of his government, as he promised to do during his presidential campaign.
In a conversation with reporters Wednesday night, government officials stressed that Thursday’s action was only the first step and that Biden would still pursue legislative solutions to gun violence.
“This is an initial series of actions to make progress on President Biden’s agenda to reduce violence,” an official said. “The administration will take legislative and executive action at the same time. You will continue to hear the president call for Congress to pass legislation to reduce gun violence.”
Yet it is unclear how much political capital Biden is willing to pass on gun control legislation on Capitol Hill, where Republicans remain strongly opposed to Democrats’ proposals, especially as he focuses on making his U.S. Jobs Plan a success and while he continue with the pandemic.
At a news conference late last month, Biden indicated that he was focused on other legislative priorities, such as his infrastructure plan.
“It’s a matter of timing,” he said when asked about gun control legislation. “As you all noticed, successful presidents, better than me, have been largely successful because they know how to make time for what they do, order it, decide priorities, what needs to be done.”
