The White House is set to announce executive actions by President Joe Biden in coming days relating to guns. The announcement is being made in coordination with the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, which he created a year ago and which is led by Vice President Kamala Harris, who foreshadowed it in a comment on the White House web page.
“In the year since President Biden asked me to oversee the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, our administration has improved and expanded background checks by closing the gun show loophole and implementing enhanced background checks for Americans under the age of 21,” Harris wrote. “We have worked with law enforcement and courts to keep guns out of the hands of abusive dating partners after we narrowed the boyfriend loophole. We are also making progress on distributing the single largest investment in youth mental health in history, $1 billion for schools across the country to hire and train more than 14,000 mental health professionals who can help address the trauma of gun violence.”
Harris continued, “Additionally, our Office has been an unprecedented resource to states, cities, and local communities – launching a Resource Center to help states implement red flag laws, coordinating the first-ever federal interagency response to mass shootings, releasing a Safer States Agenda to help legislators pass commonsense gun safety laws, and helping communities access our historic investments in community violence intervention programs.”
She also demanded states and Congress pass universal background checks, red flag laws, and safe storage laws, something that Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola has supported in the past.
“I support the creation of a bipartisan congressional committee tasked with bringing common sense gun legislation to Congress that helps prevent tragedies in our communities, preserves the subsistence lifestyle that many people depend on, and respects our 2nd amendment rights,” Peltola said in 2022.
Harris also said Congress needs to ban bump stocks, and renew the “Assault Weapons Ban.”
“Our administration will also continue to implement the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and take additional executive action to support states, cities, and local communities in their efforts to reduce gun violence,” Harris said, hinting at executive orders to come before the Biden-Harris Administration ends in January.
