Biden signs executive order to combat gun violence

President Joe Biden unveiled executive actions to reduce gun violence on Thursday.

The new executive measures have two main objectives. One is to reduce trauma and maximize the effectiveness of school shooting drills.

Stand with Parkland President Tony Montalto, whose daughter Gina was killed in the 2018 Parkland shooting, said the new order is an important step in making the reality of school shooting drills safer and more effective.

“We believe there should be active shooter drills in schools. We believe they should be age and developmentally appropriate. However, we know what happened to our children. We know that some of them weren’t in the right position because the exercises weren’t in the right position.” “That wasn’t done often enough,” Montalto told Scripps News. “These drills must occur to ensure the safety of our students and teachers, but we support the federal guidelines that are being developed and hopefully remind people that they should be age-appropriate and as trauma-free as possible.”

The regulation’s other main objective is to address machine gun conversion devices.

“These machine gun conversion devices that you can install on a regular semi-automatic firearm turn it into a fully automatic firearm. These conversion devices are already illegal under federal law, but because they are so small, cheap and easy to make, law enforcement agencies across the country have told us here at the White House that they say, “We’re still finding these at crime scenes in all of our cities.” said Stef Feldman, director of the Office of National Gun Violence. “’Please help us do more.’”

“We owe it to our victims, we owe it to the families of our victims to have an executive order like this that expedites resources to focus not just on the possession or use of this conversion device, but further up the line on the individual “Who makes them, who sells them, who makes them?” said Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin in an interview with Scripps News. “Providing resources to do so in this executive order enables cities and states to better address this issue and keep people safe.”

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The actions come as President Biden seeks to cement his legacy in combating gun violence following passage of the Safer Community Act, the most significant gun control legislation in the last 30 years.

The new executive actions also allow the White House to highlight Vice President Kamala Harris’ role in leading the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention.

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The new executive actions arrive during an election season on an issue that is galvanizing voters. Overall, a majority of Americans support more restrictive gun laws as gun violence continues to plague the country.

The new measures also follow Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declaring gun violence a public health crisis in June.