President Joe Biden has made not made secret his distaste for firearms over the course of his storied political career.
Nearly 30 years ago Biden assisted in securing the passage of a so-called assault weapons ban, and the president has made it clear that he would love to see such a law re-materialize during his time as president.
While it would be nearly impossible for him to succeed in passing something of that magnitude this week — or ever — he has issued an executive order aimed at increased gun control.
This order is both broad in scope and narrow in practicality — while the order contains a great deal of rhetoric on advancing various methods of gun control, it is not apparent that we will perceive much of a difference in our day-to-day lives.
“”It’s common sense,” Biden said during a speech he gave that included the announcement of this new executive order.
Much of it is not common sense, but there is one that I think most law-abiding citizens will get behind. Frankly, that surprised me.
I’ll share which one made sense to me after highlighting all the directives of the executive order below, so you can see it without bias.
You can read the entirety of the White House Fact Sheet here. It is quite long, so I’ve taken the liberty of taking the biggest points and sharing them below. This list is all a direct quote from the website:
- Increase the number of background checks by ensuring that all background checks required by law are conducted before firearm purchases, moving the U.S. as close to universal background checks as possible without additional legislation.
- Improve public awareness and increase appropriate use of extreme risk protection (“red flag”) orders and safe storage of firearms.
- Address the loss or theft of firearms during shipping.
- Provide the public and policymakers with more information regarding federally licensed firearms dealers who are violating the law.
- Use the Department of Defense’s acquisition of firearms to further firearm and public safety practices.
- [Encourage] the independent Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to issue a public report analyzing how gun manufacturers market firearms to minors and how such manufacturers market firearms to all civilians, including through the use of military imagery.
- Help catch shooters by accelerating federal law enforcement’s reporting of ballistics data.
- Accelerate and intensify implementation of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA).
- Improve federal support for gun violence survivors, victims and survivors’ families, first responders to gun violence, and communities affected by gun violence.
- Advance congressional efforts to prevent the proliferation of firearms undetectable by metal detectors.
Now, some of this feels more like a gesture than anything else — an executive order that includes encouraging an entity to do something doesn’t mean all that much — but there are some significant directives in here as well, including the increasing usage of red flag laws.
The one point I think most people will be able to support is a concerted effort to curtail the theft of firearms during shipping. I suspect that the methodology the Biden administration might employ would be very different than what a Republican administration might employ, but conceptually, it’s hard to be pro-theft, especially when it comes to something millions of Americans are so passionate about.
It will be interesting to see what results stem from this executive order, but the sentiment appears clear: Biden seems to know he’s not going to win on a so-called assault weapons ban push, so he’s trying to see what else he can do to curtail the firearms industry.
That “assault weapon” isn’t really a real term doesn’t seem to bother him all that much.