The recent mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 children and two teachers were killed, and in Buffalo, New York, where 10 people were killed, have renewed calls for gun control laws.
President Biden acknowledges that there is little he can do without Congress. The constitution is there. He told reporters at the White House that he couldn't dictate things.
Biden demanded that Congress take action on stronger gun measures, including a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, raising the age for buying assault rifles from 18 to 21, and enactment of federal red flag laws intended to keep firearms out.
A bipartisan group of senators led by Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, announced an agreement on a framework for gun safety legislation Expanding background checks for gun buyers under the age of 21 and improving enforcement of gun-trafficking laws are included in the proposal.
It would be the first major legislative agreement on gun control in a long time. Clinton was a senator in 1994. Under the Bush administration, the 10-year assault weapons ban was not renewed.
The legislative text for the bipartisan proposal needs to be passed by the House before it can be sent to President Biden.
If Congress fails to act, there is more Biden can do, according to Kris Brown, president of Brady United. Some of the responses have been edited to make them clearer.
What can Biden do if Congress doesn't act on gun control?
This is the first thing. Gun violence should be declared a public health crisis.
Kris Brown said that gun violence is the number one killer of children in the country. More than car accidents, poisonings, and accidental injuries. It's right to say it's a public health crisis. It frees up funding and gives a coordinated approach through federal agencies to tackle this comprehensively.
There are two Define gun dealers.
It is possible for Biden to issue executive actions that clarify what it is to be in the business of selling guns and require anyone who sells more than five guns to be declared a gun dealer. One in five guns sold today is sold without a background check. The administration can do a lot ofTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkia,Trademarkia,Trademarkia,Trademarkia,Trademarkia,Trademarkia,Trademarkia,Trademarkia,Trademarkia,Trademarkia,Trademarkia,Trademarkia,Trademarkia,Trademarkia,Trademarkia,Trademarkia,Trademarkia,Trademarkia,Trademarkia,Trademarkia,Trademarkia,Trademarkia We want Congress to take action to bolster the efforts.
There are three. The White House wants to prevent gun violence.
The White House should have an office of gun violence prevention. The office of domestic policy, led by Susan Rice, who is currently handling the administration's efforts on gun violence prevention, deserves a coordinated approach and a full-time job that understands all of the levers of power. That is important. We need to get that behind us.
There are four. The Justice Department should take action against those who sell illegal firearms.
The Department of Justice needs to do a better job of cracking down on the suppliers of "crime guns" in the United States and increase the prosecution of those who are putting illegal guns on the criminal market. A "crime gun" is a gun that has been recovered by law enforcement and may have been used in a crime. We need more of a focus by the U.S. attorneys to crack down on the criminal market because of the increase in homicides across this country. The Justice Department is cracking down on firearms traffickers.