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President Joe Biden announced new measures to fight the country’s growing gun violence. The President aims to change federal policy for ghost guns and responses to urban gun violence.
“Gun violence in this country is an epidemic, and it’s an international embarrassment,” the President said.
People question whether the President’s actions will infringe upon the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. The National Rifle Association tweeted that the President’s actions are extreme.
“These actions could require law-abiding citizens to surrender lawful property, and push states to expand gun confiscation orders,” the NRA tweeted.
“Nothing I’m about to recommend in any way impinges upon the Second Amendment,” President Biden said.
The President also wants the Senate to approve legislation that has already passed the House to expand background checks. He also is looking for Congress to validate the Violence Against Women Act by preventing dating partners and stalkers convicted of domestic violence from purchasing or possessing weapons.
“Whether Congress acts or not, I’m going to use all of the resources at my disposal as president of the United States to protect Americans from gun violence,” President Biden said.
In 1994, President Biden voted in Congress as a Senator to ban assault weapons. The ban expired in 2004. Today, the President is calling on Congress to establish a new assault weapons ban.
“I know it’s painful and frustrating that we haven’t made progress that we’ve hoped for,” he said. “No matter how long it takes, we’re going to get these passed. We’re not going to give up.”
The President nominated David Chipman, a former special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, to lead the ATF. In the last 15 years, there has only been one ATF director. Attorney General Merrick Garland will lead the Justice Department in reforming gun policy.
“I am under no illusions about how hard it is to solve the problems of gun violence, and I know the Justice Department alone cannot solve the problem,” Garland said. “But there is work for the department to do, and we intend to do it.”
Kris Brown, president of the gun-control advocacy organization Brady, believes that the President’s attempt to change gun laws will save lives.
“President Biden’s actions are historic and they will have an immediate impact. These are tangible and powerful policies that will save lives,” Brown said.
There is a lot optimism surrounding the President’s efforts to reform gun laws.
“It will take time. This will not be easy. But we have to take action,” Karine Jean-Pierre, White House Deputy Press Secretary, said to CBSN. “And in Congress, there are two pieces of legislation that went out of, that passed the House, bipartisan. In a bipartisan way. And so now it’s time to move those as well and to get that into the Senate, and for the Senate to move those pieces of legislation. And the president is going to work very hard as he has committed, as he has said, to make sure that happens.”
