(FreedomWire.org) – President Joe Biden issued an executive order Tuesday that reinforced background checks for gun buyers in what the White House is promoting as the most comprehensive policy the president can enact without Congress.
The order also aims to strengthen federal support for red flag laws passed in 19 states and the District of Columbia that intend to stop gun sales to people legally deemed dangerous to themselves or others.
Biden’s order also encouraged safe storage of guns and asked the Federal Trade Commission to analyze how gun manufacturers market firearms, including to minors. It follows previous executive action taken by the administration seeking to reduce gun violence.
Biden has a long record of supporting gun control measures, including restrictions on assault weapons.
Biden said, “I’m determined, once again, to ban assault weapons in high-capacity magazines. I led that fight to ban them in 1994. The ten years that law was in place, mass shootings went down.”
The Biden gun law of 1994 he’s referring to was controversial at the time, with advocates of gun rights arguing that it infringed on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.
Biden continued, “Our Republican friends let it expire ten years later and mass shootings tripled since then, tripled. So let’s finish the job. Ban assault weapons. Ban them again. Do it now. Enough. Do something.”
“Do something big!”
Biden’s position on gun control has evolved over time, and he has faced criticism from some gun rights advocates for his support of stricter gun laws.
With more than 40,000 U.S. gun deaths per year, Biden is betting voters in the 2024 presidential election will embrace more proactive gun control. Republicans seeking their party’s nomination to challenge the Democrat Biden in 2024 are certain to favor more expansive gun rights, backed by influential groups such as the National Rifle Association.
The Biden administration is pointing to poll results showing most Americans support background checks.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll last year found 84% of respondents supported background checks for all firearms sales and 70% backed red flag laws. That survey was taken immediately after a gunman opened fired at a school in Uvalde, Texas, killing 19 students and two teachers.
Some gun rights advocates oppose background checks, saying they infringe on constitutional rights to possess arms while failing to stop criminals from getting them. They also contend many red flag laws trample on due process rights.
The firearms trade industry group NSSF said in a statement it opposed the executive order because it threatened constitutional rights and was “simply rehashing existing law.”
“The Biden administration should demand that soft-on-crime prosecutors and lawmakers use the laws already in existence to lock up criminals that misuse firearms to prey on innocent Americans,” said Lawrence Keane, NSSF senior vice president.
The president last year signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the most significant gun control legislation in 30 years.
Since then, the Republicans won control of the House of Representatives, ending virtually any chance of more gun legislation for the next two years, such as Biden’s proposed bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
Critics went to twitter to respond to Biden’s executive order.
