Frustrated by Congress’ inaction on gun violence and seeking to secure the issue as part of his legacy, President Biden on Thursday announced plans to improve school preparedness and increase the availability of untraceable weapons and devices. He said he was using executive authority to stop the leak. Deadly.
Biden made the announcement at a packed and emotional ceremony in the East Room of the White House, where he was introduced by Randall Woodfin, the mayor of Birmingham, Alabama. Woodfin’s brother was killed in gun violence, and his city is grieving after four people were killed in a mass shooting last week. Many activists and gun violence survivors participated.
The event coincided with the one-year anniversary of the White House Gun Violence Prevention Office, which Biden created last year after signing the bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first major gun safety bill in nearly 30 years. . It was also a chance for Biden to pass the baton to Vice President Kamala Harris, who will lead his administration. Vice President Harris has made gun violence prevention an issue in her bid to succeed Biden.
Speaking in front of Biden, Harris said: “We know how to stop these tragedies, suggesting we either support the Second Amendment or we want to take guns away from everyone.” That’s the wrong choice,” he said. said during his campaign that he owns a gun for self-defense. “I support the Second Amendment and believe we need to reinstate the assault weapons ban.”
She was referring to a provision in the 1994 crime bill that Biden led while in the Senate that banned certain types of military-style assault weapons for 10 years. The ban expired in 2004, but Congress refused to renew it.
The executive order signed by Biden at the end of the ceremony is not legally enforceable. That could easily be reversed if former President Donald J. Trump wins the White House in November.
One of these is a new task force to assess the threat posed by untraceable weapons known as ghost guns, including 3D printed firearms, and conversion devices that can turn semi-automatic guns into military machine guns. was established. The other directs top federal officials to evaluate research on how to conduct effective, age-appropriate active shooter training that doesn’t traumatize students. Sari Kaufman, who survived the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, said she welcomed the effort.
“Gun violence and the fear of gun violence affects every community,” said Kaufman, who introduced Harris at the event. “School shootings add to this fear and anxiety. We must be prepared, but we must not traumatize our students.”
Biden and Harris used Thursday’s ceremony to claim credit for the decline in murders and mass shootings over the past year. White House officials cited a Justice Department report showing a decline in all homicides, not just gun homicides, and the Gun Violence Archive, an independent research group, showing a decline in mass shootings. Cited the data.
But the data is not as promising as the White House suggests.
Gun-related homicides spiked in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic, but have not fallen to pre-2020 levels. Gun-related suicides are on the rise, and firearms remain the leading cause of death for children and adolescents ages 1 to 19 in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to the CDC, an average of 132 people are killed by firearms each day in the United States. And as of Thursday, there had been more than 400 mass shootings this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more victims, not including the shooter, are killed or injured. It is defined as an incident. Jeffrey W. Swanson, a gun violence prevention expert at Duke University, said mass shootings account for less than 0.5 percent of all gun homicides.
“We know that if a mass shooting were to occur today, four people could die, but on the same day, another 135 people died from gunshot injuries,” Dr. Swanson said.
Still, Dr. Swanson and other experts say the Biden administration’s policies could be one of many factors that contributed to the decline in violent crime, including improvements in the economy and job market. For example, the bipartisan Safe Zones Act would require states to enact “red flag laws” that would allow judges to issue temporary civil restraining orders prohibiting dangerous individuals from purchasing or possessing firearms. provided support. Dr. Swanson’s research found that the law saves lives.
Biden said Thursday he plans to continue his work to prevent gun violence after he leaves office.
“We still have much work to do, but the steps we have taken to reduce gun violence and save lives are real,” he said. “We must continue.”
