News News from America Biden’s first gun con­trol actions to include sev­er­al exec­u­tive orders

Biden’s first gun con­trol actions to include sev­er­al exec­u­tive orders

Pres­i­dent Biden is set to announce his first major action on gun con­trol Thurs­day, issu­ing a series of exec­u­tive actions to crack down on “ghost” guns and firearm sta­bi­liz­ing braces and nom­i­nat­ing an advis­er at the gun con­trol group Gif­fords to become direc­tor of the Bureau of Alco­hol, Tobac­co, Firearms and Explosives.

President Joe Biden speaks during an event on the American Jobs Plan in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus, Wednesday, April 7, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Pres­i­dent Joe Biden speaks dur­ing an event on the Amer­i­can Jobs Plan in the South Court Audi­to­ri­um on the White House cam­pus, Wednes­day, April 7, 2021, in Wash­ing­ton. (AP Photo/Evan Vuc­ci) more >

Mr. Biden will order the Jus­tice Depart­ment to issue a pro­posed rule with­in 30 days to help stop the pro­lif­er­a­tion of ghost guns, which are home­made and can’t be traced, senior admin­is­tra­tion offi­cials said Wednes­day. The action is expect­ed to be a step toward clas­si­fy­ing ghost guns as firearms, mak­ing them sub­ject to back­ground checks.

The pres­i­dent also will direct the Jus­tice Depart­ment to devel­op a rule with­in 60 days to clas­si­fy pis­tols out­fit­ted with sta­bi­liz­ing braces to be sub­ject to tougher fed­er­al reg­u­la­tions. A gun­man used such a firearm in last month’s mass shoot­ing at a Col­orado super­mar­ket. The ATF late last year pulled a pro­posed reg­u­la­tion on sta­bi­liz­ing braces amid Repub­li­can opposition.

Offi­cials said Mr. Biden also will announce his inten­tion to nom­i­nate David Chip­man, a for­mer ATF agent, as direc­tor of the bureau that enforces the nation’s gun laws. He has worked as an advis­er at the gun con­trol group Gif­fords, named for for­mer Rep. Gabrielle Gif­fords of Ari­zona, who was shot in the head in an assas­si­na­tion attempt in 2011.

If con­firmed, Mr. Chip­man would be the agency’s first per­ma­nent direc­tor since 2015. The ATF is cur­rent­ly run by act­ing Direc­tor Regi­na Lombardo.

A senior admin­is­tra­tion offi­cial described Mr. Biden’s exec­u­tive actions as “an ini­tial set” of pro­pos­als on gun vio­lence, indi­cat­ing more will follow.

The president’s announce­ments won’t include pro­pos­als for any leg­is­la­tion in Con­gress. Senior admin­is­tra­tion offi­cials said Mr. Biden still intends to urge law­mak­ers to approve uni­ver­sal back­ground checks and oth­er mea­sures to try to reduce gun violence.

By Dave Boy­er- The Wash­ing­ton Times — Wednes­day, April 7, 2021



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