President Biden is expected to announce a package of executive actions aimed at reducing gun violence on Thursday, according to Politico.
Biden’s executive actions on addressing gun violence come weeks after a series of mass shootings in Colorado, Georgia and California. During the 2020 presidential election cycle, Biden vowed to take action on gun violence on his first day in office, but the President’s expected announcement is set to occur nearly three months after entering office.
According to Politico, Biden will direct his administration to begin requiring consumers of “ghost guns,” which are homemade or makeshift firearms lacking serial numbers, to undergo background checks.
Politico also reported that the President could potentially introduce his nominee for the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — the federal agency that plays a key role in any response by the executive branch regarding gun-related issues.
Later Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that Biden will tap David Chipman — a longtime former ATF agent who served as a senior policy adviser at Giffords, the gun control advocacy group led by former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) — as ATF director.
Biden will be joined by Attorney General Merrick Garland during an event announcing his gun reform executive actions on Thursday.
The President is expected to express support for bills expanding background checks and close the “Charleston loophole” that permits the transferring of guns from licensed gun dealers without a completed background check. Biden will also reportedly advocate for legislation preventing people believed to be a danger to themselves or others from gun ownership, and urge for a ban of assault weapons and high capacity magazines.
Asked about speculation that Biden will unveil executive actions on guns, White House press secretary Jen Psaki declined to provide details during a briefing on Wednesday. Psaki, however, confirmed that the President will “have more to say” on firearms on Thursday.
In the wake of the mass shootings in Georgia and Colorado last month, Biden called on Congress to ban assault weapons and to close loopholes in the background check system. The President specifically urged the Senate to pass two background check bills that the House had approved.
“I don’t need to wait another minute, let alone an hour, to take commonsense steps that will save lives in the future,” Biden said. “This is not and should not be a partisan issue. It is an American issue.”
Last week, more than 100 House Democrats sent a letter demanding that Biden take action on concealed assault-style firearms, which was used in a mass shooting at a Colorado supermarket that killed 10 people.
Joe Manchin is gonna say no on the assault weapons ban, just like he did last time there was a legislative push. At most, we’re going to get some sort of expanded background checks. More likely, we’re going to get nothing.
Joe Manchin, King of the Senate, has argued that there’s no need for background checks when the buyer and seller know one another. This argument looks increasingly bogus when you look at the interviews with the family and friends of mass shooters who, inevitably, “could never imagined he’d ever do such a thing!”
Checks to take place when? Such guns aren’t legally sold to “consumers”; they’re privately swapped to a friend-of-a-friend for a wad of cash with no paperwork. All this requirement does is provide another hook on which to hold and charge people when they get caught for some other reason.
I’m sure conservatives won’t notice or even comment on this.
Of course I know him, we’re in the same anti-government militia group together…