JOE GOES AFTER ‘GHOST’ WEAPONS
Orders target ‘ghost’ weapons, push ‘red flag’ laws and more
President Biden took executive action Thursday to plug legal loopholes that allow for the unregulated sale of a shadowy category of makeshift firearms, marking his first effort to beef up gun control in the wake of another rash of harrowing mass shootings.
Biden announced the actions — which are relatively limited in scope and do not outright ban any weapons — during a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden, where he made a point of repeatedly calling American gun violence “an epidemic” without parallel in the rest of the world.
“Gun violence in this country is an epidemic and it’s an international embarrassment,” Biden said after noting that 300 people are shot in the U.S. every day on average, with another mass shooting leaving five people dead in South Carolina just on Wednesday. “This is an epidemic, for God’s sake, and it has to stop.”
Biden’s announcement makes good on a pledge he made last month to take “common-sense steps” to address gun violence after mass shootings in Boulder, Colo., and Atlanta left 18 people dead within one week.
Still, Biden acknowledged his executive power only goes so far and reiterated his call for Congress to pass legislation to ban assault rifles and expand the federal background check system to cover every type of gun sale and transfer.
“Enough prayers — time for some action,” Biden, a devout Catholic, said in reference to the common refrain of Republicans offering “thoughts and prayers” in the wake of mass shootings without supporting stricter gun laws.
The top-line action in Biden’s Thursday announcement directs the Justice Department to craft a new rule for so-called “ghost guns,” firearms that are sold in kits that can be assembled at home.
Ghost guns generally do not have serial numbers, and there’s no federal requirement for buyers to undergo a background check, making the proliferation of such weapons nearly impossible to track.
Attorney General Merrick Garland, appearing with Biden in the Rose Garden, said the new Justice Department rule, expected within 30 days, will “plug that gap” by requiring ghost gun manufacturers to use serial numbers and mandating buyers to undergo the same background checks in place for regular firearms sales.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who called for curbs on ghost guns last month, praised Biden’s action as a step in the right direction, but agreed Congress needs to pick up the pace.
“It’s very good, but it’s not enough,” Schumer told reporters at an unrelated press conference in the Bronx on Thursday. “This is not a substitute for legislative action to help end gun violence once and for all by having universal background checks so the guns can’t get into this community. We need that.”
A second Justice Department rule unveiled by Biden would tighten regulations on stabilizing braces, which allow users to turn pistols into short-barreled rifles without having to disclose them as such.
The alleged Boulder, Colo., shooter appears to have used a stabilizing brace, allowing him to fire bullets at a faster clip. Under the new Biden rule, expected within 60 days, pistols with stabilizing braces would be officially labeled short-barreled rifles, a
distinction that requires an advanced federal license subject to a more thorough application process as well as a $200 tax.
Biden’s batch of executive actions also includes a directive for the Justice Department to publish model legislation that would pave the way for more states to adopt “red flag” laws, which empower individuals to petition a court to let police confiscate weapons from a person deemed to be a danger to themselves or others. New York is among less than two dozen states that have red flag laws on the books.
“I want to see a national red flag law,” Biden said.
Another Biden action orders the Justice Department to provide more data on firearms trafficking, starting with a new comprehensive report on the issue — research that hasn’t been conducted in more than two decades, according to the Biden administration.
To bolster his gun control agenda from within, Biden separately announced he’s nominating David Chipman, a gun control advocate, to serve as his director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
“He’s the right person at this moment for this important agency,” Biden said of Chipman, who served as an ATF agent before taking a job as a senior adviser for Giffords, a pro-gun-control group.
The prospect for Congress to pass comprehensive gun control legislation appears slim, with Republicans in both chambers remaining rigidly opposed to making it harder for Americans to buy nearly any type of firearm.
Despite being in financial dire straits because of an ongoing bankruptcy battle with New York’s attorney general, the National Rifle Association continues to hold significant sway over congressional Republicans, who claim any attempts by Democrats to enact better gun control would infringe on law-abiding Americans’ Second Amendment rights.
Biden slammed the GOP argument as “phony.”
“Nothing I’m about to recommend in any way impinges on the Second Amendment,” he said. “The idea is just bizarre.”