United States – US President Joe Biden is to sign another executive order on Thursday to counter the emerging threats of firearms and enhance drills on school shootings while setting short timelines for further related actions, according to the White House.
Announcement with Gun Violence Survivors
Biden and Harris will release the order at the White House, an area in which they have not coordinated any event together since Biden assigned Harris to lead an office focused on preventing gun violence established one year prior, as reported by Reuters.
It will also include gun violence survivors, activists, and people who have known Biden for the better part of the last thirty years whose goal has been to prevent gun violence.
It is one in a series of measures under the gun control reform embarked on by Biden and Harris since they assumed office in 2021, both of whom are gun owners.
Part of Ongoing Gun Control Reform Efforts
The U.S. surgeon general declared gun violence a public health crisis in June, calling for more research funding, better mental health access, and other steps such as secure storage. In June, the U.S. Surgeon General deemed gun violence a public health emergency and recommended increased financing for research, improved access to mental health services, and other measures including secure storage.
Following Biden’s withdrawal in July, Harris emerged as the Democratic nominee for the Nov. 5 election. During her campaign rallies, Harris has frequently discussed the need to lower gun violence.
Republicans often oppose harsher rules, citing the 2nd Amendment’s guarantee of the right to carry weapons, while Democrats generally support stronger laws as a means of reducing gun-related deaths.
The order creates a new federal task force to evaluate the threat posed by 3D-printed firearms that are difficult to trace due to their lack of a serial number and machine gun conversion devices, which allow handguns or other semi-automatic firearms to match or surpass the rate of fire of many military machine guns.
To Assess Federal Agencies’ Ability to Counter Firearm Threats
The task force will also explore the question of whether federal agencies have the legal and operational ability to identify, prevent, and confiscate such weapons. It will present its findings before the holiday season in approximately 90 days.
Banging conversion kits are already prohibited, but the White House has stated that Police officials are noticing that they are also appearing frequently at crime scenes because they are small, inexpensive to build for as little as forty cents, and easy to incorporate.
Law enforcement officers have also identified threats by unserialized firearms that can be produced by 3D printers using a set of codes downloaded from the internet. Some can be made in ways that they cannot be detected by security magnetometers, as reported by Reuters.
New Guidelines for Active Shooter Drills in Schools
The order also requires federal agencies to provide and disseminate within 110 days guidelines for how schools, colleges, and universities throughout the US can develop, execute, and assess research-driven best practice effective active shooter drills that parents claim traumatize children.