Biden expected to sign new executive order on gun control

President Joe Biden is expected to sign an executive order on March 14 aiming to increase the number of background checks to buy guns, promote better and more secure firearms storage and ensure US law enforcement agencies are getting the most out of a bipartisan gun control law enacted last summer, reported from AP.

The Democratic president plans to unveil his latest efforts at curbing gun violence in a speech from Monterey Park, California, said a senior White House official, who discussed the order before its signing on the condition of anonymity. In January, a gunman stormed a dance hall in the community near Los Angeles and shot 20 people, killing 11, following a Lunar New Year celebration.

Biden’s rhetoric has only grown stronger around guns - he routinely calls for banning so-called assault weapons in his speeches - and Democrats didn’t push such a vocal anti-gun platform even during the Obama administration, when Biden was vice president. But Biden has been emboldened by the midterms after his regular talk of gun control didn’t result in massive losses, and he’s expected to continue to push for strong changes as he inches toward a 2024 run, his aides say.

Biden is also mandating better reporting of ballistics data from federal law enforcement for a clearinghouse that allows federal, state and local law enforcement to match shell casings to guns. But local and state law enforcement agencies are not required to report ballistics data, and many do not, making the clearinghouse less effective.

And the president is going to ask the Federal Trade Commission to issue a public report analyzing how gun manufacturers market to minors and use military images to market to the general public.

The bill passed last year, known as the Safer Communities Act, is viewed by gun control advocates as a good start but one that doesn’t go far enough. After the law was signed, there were 11 other mass shootings, according to a database of mass killings since 2006 maintained by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University. Those killings don’t include shootings in which fewer than four people were killed - and gun violence is also rising nationwide.

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