UNITED STATES NEWS

President Biden issues order to strengthen gun background checks

Mar 14, 2023, 3:00 PM

President Joe Biden meets Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at Naval Base Point Loma, Mond...

President Joe Biden meets Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at Naval Base Point Loma, Monday, March 13, 2023, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

MONTEREY PARK, Calif. (AP) — President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Tuesday aiming at increasing background checks to buy guns, promoting more secure firearms storage and ensuring U.S. law enforcement agencies get more out of a bipartisan gun control law enacted last summer.

The Democratic president was to address his latest efforts to curb gun violence in a speech in this suburban Los Angeles community, where a gunman stormed a dance hall and shot 20 people, killing 11, following a Lunar New Year celebration in January. He was also meeting with families of victims and with first responders from that day.

Biden’s rhetoric has grown ever stronger about guns — he routinely calls for banning assault weapons — in pushing a vocal gun-control platform even tougher than during the Obama administration when he was vice president. He has been emboldened by the midterm electiions when his regular talk of gun control didn’t result in massive losses, and he’s expected to continue to argue for strong changes as he inches toward a 2024 reelection run, his aides say.

Biden was greeted at the Los Angeles airport Tuesday by Brandon Tsay, the 26-year-old who wrestled the semiautomatic pistol away from the gunman in Monterey Park. The two shook hands; Biden had invited Tsay to his State of the Union address in January where he praised the young man’s heroism.

But the president has only limited power on guns to go beyond bipartisan legislation passed by Congress last summer after the killings last year of 10 shoppers at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store and 19 students and two teachers at a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school.

Tuesday’s action does not change U.S. government policy. Rather, it directs federal agencies to ensure compliance with existing laws and procedures — a typical feature of executive orders issued by presidents when they confront the limits of their own power to act without cooperation from Congress.

Biden, in the order, acknowledged Congress’ opposition, but said, “In the meantime, my administration will continue to do all that we can, within existing authority, to make our communities safer.”

The order directs the Cabinet to work on a plan to better structure the government to support communities suffering from gun violence. The plan calls on Attorney General Merrick Garland to shore up the rules for federally licensed gun dealers so they know they are required to do background checks as part of the license.

Biden is also mandating better reporting of ballistics data from federal law enforcement for a clearinghouse that allows federal, state and local law enforcement to match shell casings to guns. But local and state law enforcement agencies are not required to report ballistics data, and many do not, making the clearinghouse less effective.

And the president is asking the Federal Trade Commission to issue a public report analyzing how gun manufacturers market to minors and use military images to market to the general public.

“President Biden’s executive order today is a home run for public safety,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “This is the latest example of President Biden’s leadership on gun safety, and we’re proud to stand with him as he takes robust action to help close the gun-seller loophole — which will significantly expand background checks on gun sales, keep weapons out of the hands of dangerous people and save lives.”

The bill passed last year, known as the Safer Communities Act, is viewed by gun control advocates as a good start but one that doesn’t go far enough. After the law was signed, there were 11 other mass shootings, according to a database of mass killings since 2006 maintained by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University. Those killings don’t include shootings in which fewer than four people were killed — and gun violence is also rising nationwide.

Pro-gun groups said the order would do little to stop growing gun violence.

“The reality is that nothing in the president’s executive order today would have done anything to prevent the recent mass shootings in California, Michigan or elsewhere,” said Katie Pointer Baney who is the Managing Director of Government Affairs for the U.S. Concealed Carry Association. “It’s time for the president and political leaders across the country to have an honest conversation with the American people and acknowledge there is no legislative fix that will permanently solve the issue of gun violence.”

Biden will also direct his Cabinet to make sure law enforcement agencies understand the benefits of the new law, particularly around red-flag laws, also known as extreme risk protection orders, which are intended to temporarily remove guns from people with potentially violent behavior and prevent them from hurting themselves or others.

Last month, the Justice Department sent out more than $200 million to help states and the District of Columbia administer red-flag laws and other crisis-intervention programs.

United States News

Associated Press

Editorial Roundup: United States

Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad: May 28 The Washington Post on the debt limit Finally, President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) have reached a deal to avert an embarrassing — and potentially disastrous — U.S. default. It’s hard to view this as a celebratory moment given how […]

6 hours ago

Gavel (Pexels Photo)...

Brandon Gray

Arizona attorney general sues major chemical companies 3M, DuPont over water contamination

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced Tuesday she has filed a lawsuit against manufacturers of a class of man-made chemical compounds causing widespread pollution of the state's groundwater.

6 hours ago

Associated Press

How AP and Equilar calculated CEO pay

For its annual analysis of CEO pay, The Associated Press used data provided by Equilar, an executive data firm. Equilar examined regulatory filings detailing the pay packages of 343 executives. Equilar looked at companies in the S&P 500 index that filed proxy statements with federal regulators between Jan. 1 and April 30, 2023. To avoid […]

6 hours ago

(AP Illustration/Peter Hamlin)Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS...

Associated Press

CEOs got smaller raises. It would still take a typical worker two lifetimes to make their annual pay

After ballooning for years, CEO pay growth is finally slowing. The typical compensation package for chief executives who run S&P 500 companies rose just 0.9% last year, to a median of $14.8 million, according to data analyzed for The Associated Press by Equilar. That means half the CEOs in the survey made more and half […]

6 hours ago

A poster with pictures of Crown Prince Hussein and his fiancee, Saudi architect Rajwa Alseif is pos...

Associated Press

Who are the bride and groom in Jordan’s royal wedding?

He’s heir to the throne in one of the oldest monarchies in the Middle East and a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. She’s a Saudi architect with an aristocratic pedigree of her own. Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II, 28, and Rajwa Alseif, 29, are to be married on Thursday at a palace wedding […]

1 day ago

FILE - Visitors to the financial district walk past the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Sept. 23, ...

Associated Press

Stock market today: Global markets shaky ahead of vote on debt in US and slowing factories in China

Wall Street dipped early Wednesday along with global stock markets ahead of a vote by the U.S. Congress to avert a government debt default, while a downturn in Chinese factory activity deepened, another indication that the global economy is slowing. Futures for the benchmark S&P 500 fell 0.4% and the Dow Jones industrials lost 0.3% […]

1 day ago

Sponsored Articles

...

OCD & Anxiety Treatment Center

5 mental health myths you didn’t know were made up

Helping individuals understand mental health diagnoses like obsessive compulsive spectrum disorder or generalized anxiety disorder isn’t always an easy undertaking. After all, our society tends to spread misconceptions about mental health like wildfire. This is why being mindful about how we talk about mental health is so important. We can either perpetuate misinformation about already […]

...

Desert Institute for Spine Care

Spinal fusion surgery has come a long way, despite misconceptions

As Dr. Justin Field of the Desert Institute for Spine Care explained, “we've come a long way over the last couple of decades.”

...

re:vitalize

Why drug-free weight loss still matters

Wanting to lose weight is a common goal for many people as they progress throughout life, but choosing between a holistic approach or to take medicine can be a tough decision.

President Biden issues order to strengthen gun background checks