President Joe Biden signed an executive order increasing background checks for gun purchases, promoting safer storage and ensuring federal agencies can make full use of the bipartisan gun control law passed last summer.
Biden traveled to Monterey Park near Los Angeles, where in January a gunman shot 20 people and killed 11 after a Chinese Lunar New Year celebration.
The president acknowledged the need for Congress to enact gun laws and that his authority was limited. But by signing that order, government agencies must implement existing policies, and the cabinet develop a plan to support communities experiencing gun violence.
Though he can’t order states to participate, Biden is requiring federal law enforcement officials to report ballistics data to a clearinghouse to match shell casings to weapons for federal, state, and state law enforcement agencies. and local.
White House senior domestic policy adviser Stef Feldman said Biden had asked his staff to do “everything possible” to reduce gun violence and save lives. “We not only address mass shootings, but also the everyday gun violence that affects our communities and may not make national headlines, such as suicide by firearms and accidental shootings,” he said.
Since Biden took office, he has taken more executive action to reduce gun violence than any other president. One of those actions relates to the safe storage of firearms. A six-year-old boy recently shot his teacher in Virginia after bringing a gun from home to class. And a three-year-old girl accidentally shot her 4-year-old sister and killed her older sister after gaining access to a gun.
“President Biden wants Congress to require gun owners to safely store their guns,” Feldman said. “That means storing firearms locked up and unloaded.”
Another major issue involves so-called “ghost guns” that can be ordered and assembled and do not require background checks. According to Feldman, Biden is also focused on how they are regulated. “The president believes that if you make a gun at home, you should be required to pass a background check and put a serial number on that firearm, which means that if the police find that gun off the scene of the crime, it can trace it back to you.”
Biden is trying to connect with as many people as possible, so he went to Monterey Park to be with that community. “The president, over the past two years, has found himself time and time again going into a community and crying with them, helping them through the trauma of being affected by gun violence,” he said.
