![]() How will the order affect background checks?īiden has tried for decades to get Congress to pass universal background checks, which would require all sellers to initiate a background check before any gun sale. Biden said he instructed Attorney General Merrick Garland to “take every lawful action possible to move us as close as we can to universal background checks without new legislation.” The declaration sounds sweeping, but the particulars of Biden’s directive are quite narrow: Biden is asking the Department of Justice to ensure that more firearms sellers obtain a Federal Firearms License, which in turn would require them to perform background checks on gun sales. “And I’m determined once again to ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines.”Īt the center of the order is a familiar issue for Biden: background checks. “None of this absolves Congress from the responsibility of acting to pass universal background checks, eliminate gun manufacturers’ immunity from liability,” Biden said, speaking to survivors and residents in Monterey Park. It signals that Biden has not abandoned the issue of gun violence even after Republicans took control of the House, likely forestalling any new federal legislation on guns for at least the next two years. The order largely directs federal agencies under Biden’s control to step up enforcement, clarify existing federal gun laws, and take new steps to implement the Safer Communities Act. Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress and pro-gun groups panned the executive order as overreach: “The Biden/Harris administration attack on the firearm industry continues,” the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the industry’s trade association, tweeted.īoth might be overselling. “President Biden’s executive order is bold, sweeping, and will save thousands of lives,” Democratic Senator Chris Murphy wrote on Twitter. The announcement of the new executive orders drew praise from gun reform advocates and Democratic lawmakers, who said it is a step in the right direction at a moment when Congress is unlikely to move on tougher reform measures. The plan, which draws heavily on the provisions contained within the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, signed into law last June, includes directives to increase public awareness and use of red flag orders and safe storage laws, address an uptick in firearms stolen during shipping, and beef up direct federal support for communities affected by gun violence. ![]() During a March 14 visit to Monterey Park, California - where a gunman killed nine people and injured 11 more in January - President Joe Biden announced a wide-ranging executive order intended to address gun violence.
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