President Joe Biden took a half dozen steps Thursday aimed at reducing gun violence, his first efforts to address the issue as other gun measures are stalled in Congress.
The president also announced he was nominating a gun-control advocate, David Chipman, as director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. If confirmed, he would be the first confirmed director of the agency since 2015.
“Gun violence in this country is an epidemic, and it’s an international embarrassment,” the president said in the White House Rose Garden.
The president’s moves came in the wake of two mass shootings — one on March 16 in Atlanta, where eight people were killed, and the other on March 22 in Colorado, where 10 lives were lost.
House Democrats also have pushed to pass gun-reform bills, but the measures face uncertain fates in the Senate. Reforming gun laws was a key theme in Biden’s presidential campaign and was a major focus of his legislative work during his decades in the Senate.
“Whether Congress acts or not, I’m going to use all the resources at my disposal as president to keep the American people safe from gun violence,” Biden told an audience that included prominent gun control advocates, families of gun violence victims and lawmakers sponsoring gun safety measures.
More than 19,000 people died in gun-related incidents in 2020, according to the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive. An additional 24,000 people took their own lives with guns.
One of Biden’s actions is directed at curbing the proliferation of “ghost guns” – guns that lack serial numbers and can’t be traced by law enforcement. Such weapons allow criminals to readily purchase and use them in a short amount of time.
The president directed the Justice Department to close the regulatory loophole that has made so-called “buy-build-shoot” kits easy to acquire without background checks.
Biden also is seeking to limit access to stabilizing braces, tools which can turn a pistol into a short-barreled rifle. Within 60 days, the Department of Justice will issue a rule making pistols with arm braces subject to the same regulations governing rifles.
Also at the president’s direction, the Justice Department will publish within 60 days model “red flag” legislation to prevent “individuals in crisis” from having access to firearms. Some states have passed red flag laws, which give family members and law enforcement the ability to obtain court orders barring certain people deemed at risk of harming themselves or others from getting weapons.
In addition, Biden said the Justice Department will begin collecting more comprehensive data on firearms trafficking, report its findings and provide annual updates – the first time such information has been analyzed in two decades.
Finally, the administration will be channeling federal money to help community programs that target urban violence.
“Gun violence is not a problem that law enforcement alone can solve,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said, speaking after Biden.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, called Biden’s moves a “step in the right direction.”
“It’s past time for the Congress to act on gun safety reform,” Van Hollen said in a statement. “To stop this senseless violence, we must enact national, common-sense policies that meaningfully address this crisis, and we must have dedicated leadership at ATF that is committed to tackling this epidemic.”
“The acts of gun violence we’ve seen in the past few weeks make it clear that the threat posed by guns has not diminished, and we must not go back to a time when mass shootings and rampant gun violence were a norm to which many had grown accustomed,” Hoyer said in a statement.
The House has passed legislation to expand background checks for gun buyers, but most Republicans in the closely divided Senate appear opposed to such measures.
Biden nevertheless called on senators to pass that legislation.
“They’ve offered plenty of thoughts and prayers – members of Congress – but they’ve passed not a single new federal law to reduce gun violence,” the president said. “Enough prayers. Time for some action.”
He also urged lawmakers to renew the Violence Against Women Act, enact a new assault weapons ban and outlaw high-capacity magazines, and change the laws that shield gun makers from lawsuits.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, and a prominent gun-control advocate, praised Biden’s efforts and was optimistic about future prospects for gun law changes.
“The NRA’s influence is fading, the gun violence prevention movement is stronger than ever, and the prospect to pass lifesaving legislation that is supported by more than 90% of Americans has never been better,” Murphy said in a statement.
Nicole Hockley, who founded Sandy Hook Promise after her son Dylan was killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting, said in a statement that the president’s steps were the first in a larger process of gun-law reforms.
“We need our senators to step up and take bipartisan action to expand background checks,” she said. “The future of our families and communities depend on this simple, life-saving legislation.”
Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pennsylvania, said in a statement he was reviewing the president’s proposals and said he appreciated the president’s willingness to work with both Republicans and Democrats on gun legislation.
“If done in a manner that respects the rights of law-abiding citizens, I believe there is an opportunity to strengthen our background check system so that we are better able to keep guns away from those who have no legal right to them,” Toomey said.
But House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California, tweeted that Biden was attempting “to trample over our constitutional 2A rights by executive fiat.”
“He is soft on crime, but infringes on the rights of law-abiding citizens,” McCarthy charged. “I won’t stand for it. And neither will House Republicans. Follow the Constitution!”
The National Rifle Association tweeted that Biden’s White House event was a “circus.”
“These actions could require Americans to surrender lawful property, push states to expand confiscation orders, and put a gun control lobbyist to head ATF,” the NRA said.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said in a tweet “the answer is not to restrict the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.”
“The answer is to go after violent criminals and come down on them like a ton of bricks,” he said.
Biden anticipated such criticisms in his remarks.
“No amendment to the Constitution is absolute…You can’t yell “fire” in a crowded movie theater and call it freedom of speech,” the president said. “From the very beginning, you couldn’t own any weapon you wanted to own. From the very beginning that the Second Amendment existed, certain people weren’t allowed to have weapons. So the idea is just bizarre to suggest that some of the things we’re recommending are contrary to the Constitution.”
“This is not a partisan issue among the American people,” Biden said.