President Joe Biden is preparing to sign an executive order aimed at dramatically increasing the number and instances of required background checks for firearm purchases.
In addition, the orders are intended to spread awareness of and “appropriate” use of “red flag” orders and safe firearm storage, punish firearms dealers when they violate the law, and promote firearm safety and public safety practices.
Biden is hosting the signing ceremony in Monterey Bay, California, on Tuesday, where a mass shooting at a Lunar New Year Festival in January left 11 dead and nine wounded.
The measure has already spurred debate between pro-gun and anti-gun advocates.
Proponents of the executive order cheered the president and insisted the bill was a step toward reducing gun violence. Texas Gun Sense Executive Director Nicole Golden told The Dallas Express, “Absolutely we support the executive order.
“Building upon the passage of the historic bi-partisan Safer Communities Act, Biden’s order will confirm and strengthen required background checks, keeping guns out of dangerous hands.
“Here in Texas, more than 4,000 Texans are shot and killed every year. We support any and all efforts to balance common sense gun laws with responsible gun ownership — something we know most Texans support.”
Pro-gun activists and opponents of the order claim it unduly impedes citizens’ rights to defend themselves. U.S. Representative Mary Miller (R-IL) tweeted:
“Joe Biden is signing more ‘gun control’ exec. orders today to attack our Second Amendment rights. We have a Crime Crisis because leftist DAs catch-and-release & refuse to prosecute criminals. The left wants to Defund The Police & disarm law-abiding citizens. We must DEFEND 2A!”
Anti-gun efforts are not new for President Biden, who has been vocal on the issue throughout his career in the Senate, the vice presidency, and now the presidency. The White House released a “fact sheet” highlighting the president’s commitment:
“Again and again, he has called for Congress to act, including by banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, requiring background checks for all gun sales, requiring safe storage of firearms, closing the dating violence restraining order loophole, and repealing gun manufacturers’ immunity from liability.”
In a statement to The Dallas Express, Texas Public Policy Foundation’s vice president of policy, Derek Cohen, pushed back on the Biden administration’s narrative, painting the order as a political stunt that could flop with voters in Texas:
“Like every other gun control policy advanced by this administration, this order is expensive, symbolic, of dubious legality, and will not at all contribute to public safety. It fails even in matching politics to the policy, announcing it in Monterey Park, CA, where 11 people were shot dead by a gunman who acquired his weapon over two decades earlier and that would be unaffected by the order.
“One need not look any further than the vapid praise gun control groups have offered to understand that this is pandering to an activist base without substance. As to the political cost, I doubt it will further hurt his approval statewide, which has been underwater since he was elected,” Cohen said.
