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.

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