According to White House press secretary Jen Psaki, President Joe Biden will announce new executive action on gun control on Thursday.
During her press conference on Wednesday, Psaki declined to go into specifics about the action but said the president would have “more to say” tomorrow.
Politico broke the news earlier Wednesday that an executive order is on the way, following three recent mass shootings in Boulder, Colorado, Atlanta, Georgia, and Orange, California.
According to the outlet, Biden will start the process of requiring those who buy “ghost guns,” or firearms that lack serial numbers because they are sold in pieces and assembled at home, to go through background checks. Attorney General Merrick Garland is expected to join Biden at the event.
It is unknown what other actions will be announced. Last week, 100 House Democrats wrote to Vice President Joe Biden, urging him to take action on concealed assault-style rifles.
Joe Biden has called for a ban on “assault weapons” and high-capacity magazines, which would almost certainly require legislation from Congress. He could, however, use his regulatory authority to limit access to such firearms.
“As a senator, I was able to accomplish this. It stopped mass shootings; we can do it again “Last month, Biden stated. “We can ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines in this country once again.”
“I think that President Biden will try to get away with as much as he can with executive orders,” Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, told Fox News, adding that his organization is “very prepared to go to court” if Biden goes too far.
“What we’re expecting him to do is anything with foreign commerce – if the firearm is being imported in or magazine or ammo is being imported in – he could by executive order try to do something in that nature,” Gottlieb continued.
According to Gottlieb, Biden could use the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) to tighten regulations. Biden has yet to appoint an ATF director.
The Biden administration has also pushed for legislative action, urging the Senate to pass two bills that have recently passed the House.
The bills broaden federal gun background checks to include all firearms sales and increase the background check review period from three to a minimum of ten business days. One bill would close the “Charleston loophole,” which allows a gun sale to go ahead if the background check isn’t completed within three days.
Readers’ Reaction On Gun Control
“Why don’t we pursue criminals instead of law-abiding citizens? Many states have increased sentencing for gun-related crimes, but it is all too often negotiated away in plea bargaining. This has to come to an end. Also, anyone convicted of a felony involving a firearm or a violent crime SHOULD NEVER BE ELIGIBLE FOR EARLY RELEASE OR PAROLE. The majority of gun crimes are committed by felons who should not be in possession of a weapon. Many of them are on probation.”
“If Joe needs background checks and a license, we can show that he and his supporters are requesting IDs and other background check information. That is in line with any state requiring voter identification and makes Joe appear two-faced.”
“More gun laws for law-abiding gun owners is a good thing. You’d think that since illegally owned handguns account for more than 80% of all gun-related crimes in inner cities, our leaders would focus on the most serious issue rather than the minor one.”
“There is already established federal law that defines what a gun is and is not. Nobody’s legal standard for what constitutes a gun is met by 80 percent of the parts. With that understood, Biden is attempting to regulate arbitrary, partially-machined parts that are not gunned by any legal standard as if they are guns, despite having no legal support for doing so. This action will join the long list of liberal overreach deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. And it will force a Court with a majority of conservatives to enter the fray. Conservatives should rejoice.”
