US tries to curb firearm violence

WEAPONS: 20 000 AMERICANS A YEAR DIE BY SUICIDE Home-made ‘ghost guns’ targeted by president’s new measures.

President Joe Biden yesterday unveiled measures aimed at curbing rampant gun violence, especially seeking to prevent the spread of untraceable “ghost guns”, White House officials said.

Biden has come under pressure from his Democratic Party to tackle the bloodshed, most recently highlighted by mass killings as far apart as Colorado, Georgia and California.

In addition to relatively modest measures on the politically hyper-sensitive issue, Biden will announce his nomination of David Chipman, a gun-control proponent, to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) – a central agency in the fight against gun violence.

Reflecting the lack of political unity around anything to do with firearms restrictions, the ATF has not had a Senate-confirmed director since 2015.

Chipman is a veteran of the agency who went on to work for a gun control advocacy group and there is no one “better to enforce gun laws”, a senior Biden administration official said.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Biden would be issuing six measures “to address the gun-violence health epidemic”.

Standing out is a proposed new rule to “stop proliferation of ghost guns”, as firearms built from home kits are known.

These homemade weapons are especially of concern because when found at crime scenes “they cannot be traced”.

Other measures include boosting support for agencies involved in tackling community violence and ordering the first comprehensive report on firearms trafficking in the US since 2000.

Nearly 40 000 Americans die each year from shootings, more than half due to suicide.

“Gun violence takes lives and leaves a lasting legacy of trauma ... even when it is not on the nightly news,” the White House said in a statement.

“The president is committed to taking action to reduce all forms of gun violence.”

Absent, however, will be any big measures on seeking to tighten overall gun laws. –