Biden’s Marching Orders In Executive Action On Guns: 5 Things To Know

ACROSS AMERICA — In a signal he hasn’t abandoned calls for stronger gun laws, President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed a wide-ranging executive order to stiffen background checks before firearms sales, increase the use of red flag laws, increase secure storage of firearms and ensuring law enforcement agencies get more out of a bipartisan gun control law enacted last summer.

“Do something,” Biden prodded, making clear that more meaningful changes in America’s gun policy must come from Congress. “Do something big.”

Biden announced the executive order in Monterey Park, California, ahead of a meeting with first responders and survivors of a late-January mass shooting at a dance hall that left 10 people dead and another 10 injured.

Here are five things to know:

What Does It Mean?

The executive order doesn’t change government policy.

It calls on federal agencies to implement the provisions of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, passed last year after deadly shooting sprees at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket and a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school. In general, that legislation strengthens background checks for the youngest firearms buyers, expands the definition of a gun seller and imposes new penalties on drug traffickers.

The main pillar of the executive action is to crack down on federally licensed gun dealers who break the law. Biden directed Attorney General Merrick Garland to close a background check loophole by clarifying the definition of “engaged in the business” of selling firearms, and make sure they know their licenses require them to run a buyer’s information through an FBI crime database.

“It’s just common sense,” Biden said. “Check whether someone is a violent felon, a domestic abuser, before they buy a gun.”

He’s 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.

The president is also asking the Federal Trade Commission to issue a report analyzing the tactics gun manufacturers use to market to minors and use military images to market to the public.

More generally, the plan directs the Cabinet to complete a plan to better support communities suffering from gun violence. Biden noted that if the Federal Emergency Management Agency can respond to natural disasters with on-the-ground support, the government should be able to do the same for a mass shooting. It provides more mental health support for grief and trauma and financial aid for victims and businesses forced to close during lengthy police investigations.

No Path In Congress

Through executive action, presidents recognize the limits on their authority without congressional approval. Biden bypassed Congress, recognizing the difficult if not impossible path ahead for stronger background checks and other measures in a divided Congress. Without legislation, the executive order gets “the U.S. as close to universal background checks as possible,” the White House said.

Biden has tried for decades — as a senator, vice president and now president — to convince Congress to pass legislation requiring all firearms sellers to do a criminal background check before selling guns.

“Let’s be clear,” Biden said. “None of this absolves Congress from the responsibility of acting, to pass universal background checks, eliminate gun manufacturer immunity from liability.”

A Big Step Forward?

The plan was quickly applauded as step forward in reducing gun violence by gun law reform advocacy groups.

“While we still need urgent legislation from Congress, [Biden’s] announcement today gets us closer to universal background checks than any other President that has come before,” tweeted Kris Brown, the president of Brady United Against Gun Violence,

“Thank you, President Biden,” Gabrielle Giffords, the former congresswoman and gun-violence survivor who founded an advocacy group to curb gun violence, said in a statement. “More must be done, but there’s no telling how many lives will be saved thanks to the meaningful actions announced today.”

“President Biden’s executive order today is a home run for public safety,” John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, said in a statement.

Or An Example Of Overreach?

Several Republican lawmakers said the executive order is an example of government overreach.

• Related: Gun Owners Say ‘Slippery Slope’ In Firearms Legislation Is Doing Nothing — Three gun owners talk to Patch about how they’d like to see gun control measures shape up, and what changed their minds to support more restrictions.

“Under the guise of preventing gun violence, President Biden has once again overstepped his executive authority. By ignoring Congress, he brazenly sidestepped Americans’ elected legislators and infringed upon the Second Amendment,” Utah Sen. Mike Lee said in a statement. “In addition, this plan has the potential to overburden private sellers with paperwork and liability issues, which will lead to increased costs of guns and present a barrier to Americans’ right to bear arms.”

In a tweet, he said that “failing to protect the public from repeat offenders is at the core of America's gun violence problem.”

Gun rights advocates also condemned the action.

“Our elected leaders should be supporting those law-abiding Americans instead of finding more ways to hinder their right to defend themselves,” Katie Pointer Baney, the managing director of government affairs for the U.S. Concealed Carry Association, said in a statement.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation issued a long statement, calling the action a continuing “attack on the firearms industry.”

“In the name of ‘doing something,’ the Biden administration is chilling fundamental Constitutional rights and simply rehashing existing law, many of which were previously supported by the firearm industry.”

The focus instead should be using already existing laws to “lock up criminals that misuse firearms to prey on innocent Americans,” Lawrence G. Keane, senior vice president and general counsel for the group, said. “Instead, this administration continues to scapegoat the firearms industry for its unwillingness to address crime.”

A Set-Up for 2024?

Despite the gridlock in Congress, Biden said he is “determined once again to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.”

He has worked on the issue since at least 1994, when as a senator he successfully negotiated a 10-year ban in his signature crime bill. Biden has repeatedly called on Congress to restore the assault weapons ban, and the House passed the measure last year, but wasn’t debated in the Senate. And even if the Senate did pass it, with Republicans in control of the House, the measure would have to go back to that chamber.

“Let’s finish the job, ban assault weapons. Ban them again. Do it now. Enough,” Biden added.

The president’s rhetoric about guns has grown ever stronger — stronger even than during the Obama administration when he was the vice president — and he routinely calls for restoration of the assault weapons ban after they are used in mass shootings.

He has been emboldened by the midterm elections when his regular talk of gun control didn't result in massive Democratic losses, and he's expected to continue to argue for strong changes as he moves toward a 2024 reelection run, his aides say

The Associated Press contributed reporting.