The President of the United States, Joe Biden, signed on Tuesday a new executive order on gun control, which aims to tighten the requirements for buying and selling, strengthen collaboration between different departments and greater monitoring and penalties for violators.

This new order will increase the number of procedures to check the criminal records of those who intend to buy a gun, as well as those who are engaged in their trade, reporting those who have violated the law. It also proposes more and better controls for the safe storage of this type of arsenal.

It also directs federal agencies to promote and implement “red flag” laws, already in place in 19 states, which could remove a gun from a person deemed dangerous, and to work to reduce the number of guns that are lost and end up in the illegal trade.

“Every few days in America, we mourn a new shooting (…) We cannot accept these events as an enduring reality of American life. Instead, we must insist that we have had enough and that we will no longer allow the interests of gun manufacturers to prevail over the safety of our children and nation,” Biden remarked in a statement.

Biden will also ask his cabinet to jointly develop a plan to support communities that have been affected by gun violence, which so far in 2023 has already recorded 110 episodes. This is the first time in a decade that such shootings have exceeded three figures in the first three months of the year.

Previously, the Biden Administration had already implemented other measures to control access to weapons and minimize risks in communities, creating new federal crimes related to the trafficking and possession of this type of weaponry. While the most radical measures, such as the ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, background check requirements for all sales, need congressional endorsement.

Categorized in:

News