Andrea Sharal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White Home mentioned on Sunday that tightened background checks have blocked 1000’s of gun gross sales over the previous 12 months to individuals below 21 and people convicted of misdemeanor home violence, a 12 months after President Joe Biden Den arrange a gun gross sales group.
The White Home mentioned homicides fell 17% throughout the interval, constructing on the largest-ever drop in homicides in 2023. In response to the report, knowledge from the Gun Violence Archive exhibits that up to now, mass shootings in 2024 are additionally down 20% from a 12 months in the past and can attain the bottom stage since 2019.
As required by Biden’s bipartisan Safer Communities Act, signed in June 2022, the FBI has carried out greater than 300,000 enhanced background checks on people below the age of 21. Enhanced background checks alone resulted within the blocking of almost 900 transactions,” the White Home mentioned. Background checks on individuals convicted of home violence have blocked greater than 4,600 gross sales up to now this 12 months.
Stefanie Feldman, the top of the brand new workplace, mentioned the event displays a broad effort that features dozens of govt actions since Biden took workplace, elevated collaboration amongst federal companies, and efforts with state and native Nearer cooperation from governments, and elevated funding to implement current legal guidelines.
She advised Reuters that Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee within the Nov. 5 presidential election, would quickly announce further govt actions.
Feldman declined to supply any particulars however mentioned the transfer includes some “utterly new pondering” and would require laborious work to finish earlier than Biden leaves workplace in January.
Gun security has been a spotlight for Biden and Harris, each of whom are gun house owners, since taking workplace in 2021.
The U.S. surgeon common declared gun violence a public well being disaster in June, calling for extra analysis funding, higher psychological well being companies and secure storage, amongst different measures.
Democrats principally help stricter gun legal guidelines as a strategy to cut back deaths from gun violence, whereas Republicans typically oppose stricter legal guidelines, citing the Second Modification proper to bear arms.
Regardless of partisan variations, Feldman mentioned her workplace has labored effectively with Republican state and native elected officers, and 17 states have handed laws to deal with gun violence.
The workplace additionally works with non-elected officers, together with well being care suppliers and executives, regulation enforcement and neighborhood leaders, a few of whom could also be Republicans however who share a standard dedication to lowering gun violence.
“The additional you get from Washington, the much less political the problem truly is,” she mentioned. “Everyone needs their youngsters to have the ability to get dwelling from faculty safely. Everyone needs their youngsters to have the ability to go play of their neighborhood safely.”
