President Joe Biden on Thursday introduced White Home plans to create a first-of-its-kind workplace of gun violence prevention.
The brand new workplace might be overseen by Vice President Kamala Harris and led by Stephanie Feldman, Biden’s longtime coverage adviser on gun points. Its creation is a win for advocacy teams which have been urgent Biden for years to nominate an workplace to coordinate gun violence prevention measures throughout the federal authorities.
“I’ll proceed to induce Congress to take common sense actions {that a} majority of Individuals assist, resembling enacting common background verify controls and banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines,” Biden mentioned in a speech. statement. “However within the absence of this much-needed motion, the Workplace of Gun Violence Prevention, together with the remainder of my administration, will proceed to do every part we are able to to fight the epidemic of gun violence that’s tearing aside our households, our communities, and our communities.” “A rustic aside.”
The plans to determine the workplace have been: Reported for the first time By The Washington Publish.
The workplace will play a key position in implementing the bipartisan Safer Communities Act, a 2022 legislation that’s thought-about probably the most complete gun violence prevention measure in 30 years. Congress handed the laws after a gunman killed 19 college students and two academics at an elementary faculty in Uvalde, Texas.
Greg Jackson, a survivor of gun violence and govt director of the Neighborhood Justice Motion Fund, and Rob Wilcox, senior director of federal authorities affairs at Everytown for Gun Security, will function deputy administrators of the workplace.
The White Home announcement comes weeks after the Biden administration proposed guidelines that may require for-profit firearms sellers to acquire a federal license and bear prison background checks.
Biden has additionally taken govt actions in current months. In March, he signed an govt order aimed toward growing background checks.
In the identical month, Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, and Consultant Maxwell Frost, Democrat of Florida, mentioned, foot Measure to determine an Workplace of Gun Violence Prevention within the Division of Justice.
in statement On Wednesday, Murphy praised the White Home’s plans for the brand new workplace, saying it “will save hundreds of lives and strengthen the federal authorities’s implementation of the bipartisan Safer Communities Act.”
in response to Temporary data From the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, firearm murder charges reached 5.9 per 100,000 final yr and hover round 5.22 per 100,000 in 2023.