Replies

Biden and the Democrats are OK with arming foreign countries
but grabbing guns from Americans is an obsession w/ them.

cnn.com
By Haley Talbot
Tue Sept 12, 2023

Congressional Democrats press Biden to use ‘every
possible tool’ (to grab guns) to combat gun violence

pic—President Joe Biden delivers remarks to service members, first responders, and their families on the 22nd anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on September 11, 2023.
Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

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More than 60 Senate and House Democrats are pressing President Joe Biden to leverage “the full power of the executive branch” to combat gun violence in a new letter calling for a number of immediate actions to make the process of purchasing firearms safer and hold firearms dealers accountable.

The letter, signed by a wide coalition of congressional Democrats, has the backing of Senate leadership, including Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic whip Dick Durbin. The letter outlines steps the Biden administration could take without congressional approval – underscoring that there is no expectation Congress will pass gun-related legislation anytime soon amid deep partisan divides over the issue.

With more than 400 mass shootings already this year, 2023 is set to be one of the deadliest year for mass shootings in American history.

“With Republicans in Congress refusing to act, the American people are relying on your Administration to ensure that they can move through their daily lives without fear of firearms on the streets, in public establishments, and in their homes,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter sent to Biden Monday.

The lawmakers, led by Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, along with Raphael Warnock of Georgia and Reps. Diana DeGette of Colorado and Abigail Spanberger of Virginia and others, want to see Biden leverage the federal government’s status as a major purchaser of firearms to develop public safety practices for vendors in order to be awarded government contracts.

The proposals put forward would incentivize gun manufacturers to decline to sell military-grade weapons to civilians and only sell to responsible dealers who refuse to proceed with a sale without a completed background check. Some of the most urgent actions proposed by the lawmakers include implementing a code of conduct for manufacturers for procuring taxpayer-funded firearms.

“Codes of conduct could be developed by each agency in consultation with the White House and could contain various public safety practices that firearm vendors must follow in order to be awarded government contracts. … The federal government has the authority to impose conditions on the award of federal contracts under the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act, and your Administration has leveraged that authority on multiple occasions,” the lawmakers wrote.

They also encouraged the administration to direct the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to review the lists of firearms that are imported under the “sporting purposes” exception, pointing out that roughly one fourth of rifles in the US are imported. The exception, according to the letter, has not been reviewed in 20 years for rifles and 10 years for shotguns, and is one of the primary exemptions used for importing firearms.

Additionally, the lawmakers urged the Federal Trade Commission to issue a policy statement establishing that advertisements will be found unfair and/or deceptive when they claim that gun ownership increases the safety of household residents. DeGette, who until last year represented the district where the Columbine massacre took place, urged the FTC to aggressively go after advertisements.

“The FTC has the ability to determine that a practice is unfair and deceptive. And in this situation, when these gun sellers are using fear mongering, and they’re capitalizing on anxious buyers through this messaging that falsely says firearm ownership increases residents’ physical safety that’s unfair and deceptive because it’s not true,” DeGette told CNN.

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