‘Ghost gun’ limits among steps to curb gun violence
President also nominates new director of ATF
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden unveiled his first major steps to address gun violence on Thursday, directing his administration to tighten restrictions on so-called ghost guns, or untraceable weapons that can be constructed from parts purchased online.
The president also announced his nomination of David Chipman as the director of the Justice Department’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Chipman is an ATF veteran who currently serves as an adviser for the gun control advocacy group named for former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, DAriz., who survived a 2011 mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona.
“Gun violence in this country is an epidemic,” Biden said during remarks in the White House Rose Garden, calling it an “international embarrassment.”
“The idea that we have so many people dying every single day from gun violence in America is a blemish on our character as a nation.”
Biden has come under immense pressure from gun safety advocacy groups and Democrats to fulfill his campaign pledge to tackle gun control on his first day in office after mass shootings in Colorado and Georgia thrust gun control back into the national conversation.
Attorney General Merrick Garland, who joined the president in the Rose Garden to announce the president’s six executive actions on curbing gun violence, said the Justice Department would propose a rule within 30 days to close a loophole that allows ghost guns, which lack serial numbers, to be purchased without a background check.
Garland said the administration also plans to tighten regulations on the kind of stabilizing braces for pistols used in last month’s Boulder, Colorado, shooting that left 10 people dead.
The Justice Department will propose a rule within 60 days that makes clear a device marketed as a stabilizing brace, which effectively allows a pistol to operate as a short-barreled rifle, is subject to the requirements of the National Firearms Act.
Other actions include directing five federal agencies to make changes to 26 programs to direct vital support to community violence intervention programs as quickly as possible. Biden has already proposed a $5 billion investment in community violence intervention programs over eight years under his infrastructure package.
White House domestic policy adviser Susan Rice told USA TODAY the administration incorporated a plan to enact immediate access to funding for community gun violence intervention after an enormous spike in homicides and violence and after consultation with community violence groups who said more investment could be highly impactful.
“It was, in fact, initially, a suggestion that came from the advocates that they could well utilize and absorb $5 billion,” she said, referring to the number Biden has proposed for community gun violence intervention in his American Jobs Plan. “We thought this was an important investment in our safety and our communities and in our economy. In addition, we’re going to be making some other investments.”
Biden focused much of his attention in his first days in office on passing his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package and, more recently, his $2 trillion infrastructure plan, frustrating some anti-gun violence groups who expected the administration to move faster.