President Joe Biden announced this Thursday half a dozen measures to limit weapons in the country pressured by the recent shootings in California, Atlanta and Colorado, as well as the inaction of Congress.
"Armed violence in this country is an epidemic and an international shame," he
said from the White House.
And he referred to the shooting that happened this Wednesday in South Carolina in which five people died, including two minors.
"There is no reason why someone needs to have an assault weapon with a hundred projectiles," he said.
Among the initiatives that Biden will announce at an event at the White House, one stands out that seeks to stop the proliferation of homemade weapons, known as
ghost guns
, according to the White House in a call with journalists.
The
ghost guns
allowed, from kits with parts, assemble weapons in about half an
hour that are difficult to trace to the authorities because they lack serial number.
[The City of Boulder had a ban on the purchase of assault weapons. A judge removed her 10 days before the deadly shooting]
"Police officers in cities across the country are reporting a growing problem.
Criminals buy kits that contain almost all the components and instructions to make a weapon in just 30 minutes
. And they are using these weapons to commit crimes," he explained in the called an official.
In Thursday's move, Biden will order the Justice Department to present a plan in 30 days to "help curb the proliferation" of these types of weapons.
The Justice Department will also propose within 60 days a rule that will tighten the provisions on stabilizers for handguns, such as the one used in the massacre last month that left 10 people dead in Boulder, Colorado.
President Joe Biden speaks during a Job Plan event in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus in Washington, DC, Wednesday, April 7, 2021.AP Photo / Evan Vucci
The measure will allow for the designation of pistols equipped with stabilizers as short-barreled rifles, the possession of which requires a federal permit in accordance with the National Firearms Law, and are subject to a more detailed application process, as well as a tax of 200 dollars.
Biden also announced that he will nominate
David Chipman
as the new head of the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Agency (ATF)
, a former agent who in recent years has defended from the private sector the regulation of weapons.
["My heart is broken," says one of the sisters of the cop who was killed in the Colorado shooting]
Chipman's eventual confirmation will depend on the Senate, where the weapons debate arouses passions and where Democrats hold a very fragile majority.
The Senate has not authorized the appointment of any chief to the ATF since 2013.
Biden will promote three other measures, one aimed at encouraging states to allow judges to restrict access to weapons to certain people;
the drafting of a report on arms trafficking;
and financing programs to reduce gun violence in urban settings.
Homicides in 2020 rose 33% on average in the 66 largest cities in the United States
, according to data from CNN.
Recent shootings reopen the debate on gun control in the US.
April 8, 202102: 40
Biden will adopt these low-key measures while waiting for Congress to act more broadly, although Republicans in the Senate have blocked most of the Democratic legislative agenda, including gun control measures.
"It has been a long time for Congress to act. But this does not mean that we cannot ask Congress to act and push for executive action at the same time," the official said.
[A 10-year-old boy pointed a toy gun at a driver. He ended up handcuffed and charged with a crime]
Although the House of Representatives passed a background check initiative last month, gun control measures have little chance of advancing in the Senate, where both parties hold the same number of seats and Republicans are almost united in their totality against most of the proposals.
During his campaign,
Biden vowed to prioritize gun control measures as president
, including the enactment of universal background check legislation, a ban on the online sale of firearms, and the manufacture and sale of assault weapons and chargers. high capacity.
But gun control advocates have said that while they were optimistic about the White House's willingness to take the issue seriously, they were disappointed by the lack of action in the first weeks of the legislature.
However, with the announcement of the new measures, advocates praised Biden's early moves to combat gun violence.
[The coronavirus pandemic triggers the sale of firearms]
"Each of these executive actions will begin to address the epidemic of gun violence that has raged during the pandemic and begin to deliver on Biden's promise to be the president with the most weight in gun safety," said John. Feinblatt, Everytown President for Gun Safety.
Giffords Law Center Senior Advisor David Chipman speaks during a hearing on assault weapons at the House Legal Affairs Committee in Washington on September 25, 2019.AP Photo / Andrew Harnik
Feinblatt, in particular, praised the measure to regulate ghost weapons, which he said "will undoubtedly save countless lives," and praised Chipman as an "invaluable key person" in the fight against the illegal arms trade.
He also said the group hopes to continue working with the Biden Administration on new gun control measures, but it's unclear what next moves the White House or lawmakers will be able to take on Capitol Hill.
Biden himself expressed uncertainty late last month when asked if he had the political capital to pass new gun control proposals, telling reporters, "I haven't said anything yet."
["Kill him with his own gun!": This is how the police suffered the attack by Trump supporters on Capitol Hill]
For years, federal officials have sounded the alarm about a growing black market in homemade military-style rifles and semi-automatic pistols.
Phantom guns have appeared more frequently at crime scenes and in recent years have appeared more when federal agents purchase guns in sting operations from gang members and other criminals.
It is difficult to say how many are circulating on the streets, in part because in many cases police departments do not even communicate with the federal government about weapons because they cannot be traced.
Some states, like California, have enacted laws in recent years to require serial numbers to be stamped on phantom guns.
["I thought I was going to die," recounts a Hispanic who escaped the Boulder shooting]
The critical component in the construction of an untraceable weapon is what is known as the lower receiver
, a part that is usually made of metal or polymer.
An unfinished receiver, sometimes referred to as an "80% receiver," can be legally purchased online without serial numbers or other markings and without the need for a license.
An attacker who killed his wife and four other people in Northern California in 2017 had been prohibited from possessing firearms, but built his own weapons to circumvent the court order before his search.
And in 2019, a teenager used a homemade pistol to fatally shoot two classmates and wound three others at a school in suburban Los Angeles.
With information from CNN, AP, NBC News and EFE.