WASHINGTON—President Joe Biden on Thursday reiterated his call on Congress to pass stalled gun legislation reform but also outlined executive action he’s taking on several gun control measures, following deadly mass shootings last month in Georgia and Colorado.
“Gun violence in this country is an epidemic and it’s an international embarrassment,” Biden said in remarks in the Rose Garden outside the White House.
In attendance were gun control advocates, lawmakers and relatives of victims of gun violence, including Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter was killed in the February 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
Biden said he had met many of the friends and family members in the audience and knows they have had to “bury a piece of their soul deep in the earth” due to gun violence.
“Last night, as I was coming to the Oval Office, I got the word that, in South Carolina, a physician with his wife, two grandchildren, and a person working at his house was gunned down — all five,” Biden said. “So many of the people sitting here today know that well, unfortunately. You know, they know what it’s like when the seconds change your life forever.”
The Associated Press reported that the suspect in the South Carolina murders was a former NFL football player who finished his career with the Atlanta Falcons in 2015 who was later found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
Biden urged the Senate to ban assault rifles, which are weapons typically used in mass shootings.
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The president also wants Congress to require background checks for guns bought at gun shows, close loopholes in gun laws and reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act — a law that protects people from domestic and sexual violence that passed the U.S. House in March. It lapsed in 2018.
Movement on gun control legislation has been uphill in the Senate, even after mass shootings like those in Colorado, Georgia and Florida.
But Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said in a statement that he plans to soon bring legislation to the Senate floor, along with quickly confirming the president’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Michigan native and gun violence prevention advocate David Chipman.
“While the president’s executive actions are critical, they are not a substitute for meaningful legislation to address the gun violence epidemic,” Schumer said.
More than 11,000 people this year have died due to gun violence, according to Gun Violence Archive, a nonpartisan group that documents gun deaths in the U.S.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland confirmed those numbers, adding that the Justice Department is already in the process of carrying out several executive orders directed by Biden.
The Justice Department, within 60 days, will publish model “red flag” legislation for states, which will allow law enforcement or family members to petition courts to temporarily remove any firearms from an individual who either poses a risk to themselves or others. Currently, 19 states and the District of Columbia have “red flag” laws.
In Georgia, the GOP-controlled Legislature was moving toward expanding gun rights before a gunman killed eight people — including six women of Asian descent — at metro Atlanta spas last month. Lawmakers recently ended the 2021 legislative session without adopting the measure at the last minute.
The Justice Department will also release a report on firearm trafficking. The last report was conducted in 2000.
The Biden administration will also direct the DOJ to issue a proposed rule within 30 days that will stop the proliferation of “ghost guns,” which are homemade guns that lack a serial number, making them difficult for law enforcement to trace.
And the administration said DOJ will issue a proposed rule that would “make clear when a device marketed as a stabilizing brace effectively turns a pistol into a short-barreled rifle subject to the requirements of the National Firearms Act,” an administration fact sheet said.
‘Unconscionable’
Among the lawmakers in attendance at the Rose Garden was Rep. Lucy McBath, a Georgia Democrat who ran for Congress after her 17-year-old son, Jordan Davis, was killed in a Florida gas station.
“This gun violence is unacceptable, it is unconscionable, and we must do better,” McBath said in a statement. “A majority of Americans support common-sense measures to help stop this violence, and today, I am truly proud to stand with the President as he fights for future generations, for survivors, and for mothers like me.”
McBath announced later in the day that she has re-introduced “red flag” legislation that she pitched as a gun violence prevention measure that would apply nationwide.
“We see it time and time again, the heartbreak of gun violence that could have been prevented by common-sense legislation,” she said in a statement. “When people are in crisis and pose a threat to themselves or others, those closest to them are often the first to see the warning signs. Extreme risk laws are a powerful tool that will help save American lives and prevent the pain that gun violence brings.”
Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), who represents the congressional district where at least 10 people were killed in March at a King Soopers supermarket in Boulder, was also in attendance Thursday.
“The actions that President Biden has announced today will save lives, and are important first-steps in enacting common-sense, gun violence prevention measures,” Neguse said. “Last week, we sent a request to the White House asking for swift action to regulate concealable assault-style firearms, and we are grateful this request was included in the actions taken by the President today. In addition to these steps, it’s critical that the House and the Senate take bold steps to approve comprehensive gun violence prevention legislation.”
Biden said violence spreads far beyond the highly publicized mass shootings.
“Every day in this country, 316 people are shot. Every single day. A hundred and six of them die every day,” Biden said. “Our flag was still flying at half-staff for the victims of the horrific murder of eight primarily Asian American people in Georgia when 10 more lives were taken in a mass murder in Colorado.
“You probably didn’t hear it, but between those two incidents, less than one week apart, there were more than 850 additional shootings — 850 — that took the lives of more than 250 people, and left 500 — 500 — injured. This is an epidemic, for God’s sake. And it has to stop.”
Former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.), who in 2011 was shot in the head by a gunman while at a constituent event in Tucson and now leads a gun violence prevention advocacy group, was also present for Biden’s remarks. Six people died in that shooting, along with one member of her staff, Gabe Zimmerman.
Biden acknowledged that it’s difficult to have a conversation around guns, but stressed that most of his executive orders and gun legislation reform could be bipartisan.
“The idea that we have so many people dying every single day of gun violence is a blemish on our character as a nation,” Biden said.
Sen. Pat Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican, has teamed up with Sen. Joe Manchin, a conservative Democrat from West Virginia, to sponsor legislation on gun background checks. The senators have advocated for background checks on all commercial sales of guns, but have also pushed for exemptions for known buyers, such as family and friends.
In a statement Toomey said he and his staff were reviewing the executive orders from the Biden administration.
“Lasting progress though is made through the legislative process,” he said. “If done in a manner that respects the rights of law-abiding citizens, I believe there is an opportunity to strengthen our background check system so that we are better able to keep guns away from those who have no legal right to them.”
A Grinnell College national poll conducted in March found that 81 percent of Americans said the right to bear and keep arms is very or somewhat important to them personally. That included 99 percent of Donald Trump voters and 95 percent of Republicans, compared to 62 percent of Biden voters and 63 percent of Democrats, the results from the poll at the liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, said.
Some Republican operatives pounced on the president’s announcement.
”Democrats are pursuing an agenda that empowers those who defy the law and disarms those who obey it,” Georgia Republican Party Chairman David Shafer said in a statement.
Georgia Recorder Deputy Editor Jill Nolin contributed to this report.
