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A28 u.s. news
Diasabra 10 aPriL 2021

Biden making new moves on guns, including naming ATF boss

(AP) — President Joe a workshop and there is no firearms trafficking, starting Oklahoma City bombing and with the Biden administra-
Biden, in his first gun con- federal requirement for a with a new comprehensive the first World Trade Cen- tion on further gun control
trol measures since tak- background check. The goal report on the issue. The ad- ter bombing. He also was measures, but it’s unclear
ing office, announced a is to “help stop the prolifera- ministration says that hasn’t involved in investigating a what next moves the White
half-dozen executive ac- tion of these firearms,” ac- been done in more than two series of church bombings House, or lawmakers on
tions Thursday aimed at cording to the White House. decades. in Alabama in the 1990s. He Capitol Hill, will be able to
addressing a proliferation The Justice Department will Biden is also nominating Da- retired from the ATF in 2012. take.
of gun violence across the issue a proposed rule aimed vid Chipman, a former fed- The White House fact sheet Biden himself expressed
nation that he called an uncertainty late last month
“epidemic and an interna- when asked if he had the po-
tional embarrassment.” litical capital to pass new gun
control proposals, telling re-
“It is actually a public health porters, “I haven’t done any
crisis,” Biden said during re- counting yet.”
marks at the White House. For years, federal officials
Greeting the families of gun have been sounding the
violence victims and activists, alarm about an increasing
he assured them: “We’re ab- black market for homemade,
solutely determined to make military-style semi-auto-
change.” matic rifles and handguns.
His Thursday announce- Ghost guns have increasingly
ment delivers on a pledge turned up at crime scenes
Biden made last month to and in recent years have been
take what he termed imme- turning up more and more
diate “common-sense steps” when federal agents are pur-
to address gun violence, af- chasing guns in undercover
ter a series of mass shootings operations from gang mem-
drew renewed attention to bers and other criminals.
the issue. His announcement It is hard to say how many
came the same day as yet an- are circulating on the streets,
other shooting, this one in in part because in many cas-
South Carolina, where five es police departments don’t
people were killed. even contact the federal gov-
But Thursday’s announce- at reining in ghost guns with- eral agent and adviser at the said Chipman has worked “to ernment about the guns be-
ment underscores the limi- in 30 days, though details of gun control group Giffords, advance common-sense gun cause they can’t be traced.
tations of Biden’s executive the rule weren’t immediately to be director of the Bureau safety laws.” Some states, like California,
power to act on guns. They issued. of Alcohol, Tobacco, Fire- During his campaign, Biden have enacted laws in recent
include moves to tighten reg- A second proposed rule, ex- arms and Explosives. promised to prioritize new years to require serial num-
ulations on homemade guns pected within 60 days, will The Biden administration gun control measures as bers be stamped on ghost
and provide more resources tighten regulations on pistol- will also make investments in president, including enacting guns.
for gun-violence preven- stabilizing braces, like the community violence inter- universal background check The critical component in
tion, but fall far short of the one used by the Boulder, vention programs, which are legislation, banning online building an untraceable gun
sweeping gun-control agenda Colorado, shooter in a ram- aimed at reducing gun vio- sales of firearms and the man- is what is known as the low-
Biden laid out on the cam- page last month that left 10 lence in urban communities, ufacture and sale of assault er receiver, a part typically
paign trail. dead. The rule will designate across five federal agencies. weapons and high-capacity made of metal or polymer.
Indeed, the White House has pistols used with stabiliz- Officials said the executive magazines. But gun-control An unfinished receiver —
repeatedly emphasized the ing braces as short-barreled actions were “initial steps” advocates have said that while sometimes referred to as an
need for legislative action to rifles, which require a federal completed during Garland’s they were heartened by signs “80-percent receiver” — can
tackle the issue. But while the license to own and are sub- first weeks on the job and from the White House that be legally bought online with
House passed a background- ject to a more thorough ap- more may be coming. they took the issue seriously, no serial numbers or other
check bill last month, gun plication process and a $200 The ATF is currently run they’ve been disappointed by markings on it, no license re-
control measures face slim tax. by an acting director, Regi- the lack of early action. quired.
prospects in an evenly di- The department also is pub- na Lombardo. Gun-control With the announcement of A gunman who killed his wife
vided Senate, where Repub- lishing model legislation advocates have emphasized the new measures, however, and four others in Northern
licans remain near-unified within 60 days that is intend- the significance of this posi- advocates lauded Biden’s first California in 2017 had been
against most proposals. ed to make it easier for states tion in enforcing gun laws, moves to combat gun vio- prohibited from owning fire-
Biden is tightening regula- to adopt their own “red flag” and Chipman is certain to lence. arms, but he built his own to
tions of buyers of “ghost laws. Such laws allow for in- win praise from this group. “Each of these executive ac- skirt the court order before
guns” — homemade firearms dividuals to petition a court During his time as a senior tions will start to address the his rampage. And in 2019, a
that usually are assembled to allow the police to confis- policy adviser with Giffords, epidemic of gun violence teenager used a homemade
from parts and milled with cate weapons from a person he spent considerable effort that has raged throughout the handgun to fatally shoot two
a metal-cutting machine and deemed to be a danger to pushing for greater regula- pandemic, and begin to make classmates and wound three
often lack serial numbers themselves or others. tion and enforcement on good on President Biden’s others at a school in subur-
used to trace them. It’s legal The department also will be- ghost guns, changes to the promise to be the strongest ban Los Angeles.
to build a gun in a home or gin to provide more data on background check system gun safety president in his-
and measures to reduce the tory,” said John Feinblatt,
trafficking of illegal firearms. president of Everytown for
Chipman spent 25 years as Gun Safety.
an agent at the ATF, where Feinblatt in particular praised
he worked on stopping a traf- the move to regulate ghost
ficking ring that sent illegal guns, which he said “will
firearms from Virginia to undoubtedly save countless
New York, and served on the lives,” and lauded Chipman
ATF’s SWAT team. Chipman as an “invaluable point per-
is a gun owner. son” in the fight against il-
He is an explosives expert legal gun trafficking. He also
and was among the team in- said the group is looking for-
volved in investigating the ward to continuing to work