Nancy Solomon: On Thursday, President Joe Biden announced a number of executive actions aimed at curbing gun violence.
President Joe Biden: We've got a long way to go. It seems like we always have a long way to go, but also, today, we're taking steps to confront not just the gun crisis, but what is actually a public health crisis.
Nancy: The announcement comes after several violent mass shootings that shook the country in the last few weeks, and also years of gridlock on the issue. President Biden's new executive actions address a number of issues, including the ghost guns without serial numbers, red flag legislation to remove firearms from a person who may be in danger, and he'll redirect five agencies to address community violence. Joining us now to help us break down Biden's executive actions is Sabrina Siddiqui, White House reporter for The Wall Street Journal. Sabrina, welcome to The Takeaway.
Sabrina Siddiqui: Thank you for having me.
Nancy: Let's start with the proposed changes to ghost guns, what exactly are they?
Sabrina: What President Biden is doing is taking steps to ensure that so-called ghost guns are more closely regulated under the background check system because, right now, these are firearms that are often assembled at home from kits or parts that are bought online and as a result, they don't have or often don't have traceable serial numbers. President Biden wants to require serial numbers on key parts, and in doing so require buyers to have background checks so that these don't slip through the system.
Nancy: Then there's the red flag legislation, how would that work?
Sabrina: This is something that President Biden is doing in limited capacity. I think because he's using his executive authority, he can actually enforce so-called Red Flag Laws, but what he wants the Justice Department to do is to effectively create a template for states to use as they craft their own Red Flag Laws. Those are laws that pave the way for family members or law enforcement to seek court orders to remove firearms from people who are deemed to be a threat to themselves or others.
It's making it easier for family members, friends, or a law enforcement officials to prevent someone from possessing a firearm if they do not believe that person is fit to do so, but again, it's really a template that the Justice Department will come up with for states to use. There's no real way for President Biden to enforce this across states. It's really just the recommendations coming from the federal government.
Nancy: What is he proposing to do about military-style weapons like the AR 15?
Sabrina: This is interesting because the announcement, of course, comes after a pair of mass shootings in March, including that in Atlanta, where the victims are predominantly Asian-American, as well as in Boulder, Colorado. The one in Boulder, the suspect in that shooting reportedly used a stabilizing brace that makes AR 15 style pistols. Those are generally subject to fewer regulations than assault rifles. What Biden has done is he's asking the Justice Department to draft rules that would regulate these stabilizing braces because they effectively transform pistols into rifles.
This is something that, again, would create more regulations around a certain type of firearm that is not currently regulated, like assault rifles under current laws. I think what we're seeing more across the board is some more modest regulation, but he's not actually through his executive authority able to take any steps that we so far-- or hasn't taken a step so far that would actually, within themselves, either expand background checks or ban certain types of rifles.
Nancy: He's also asking the Justice Department to produce a report on gun trafficking. What's that about and what's important about that?
Sabrina: This is important because there, according to the administration, has not been a report on federal gun trafficking since 2000, so in more than two decades. What Biden is asking the Justice Department to do is to issue an annual report on firearms trafficking. I think that is going to effectively be a way for the government to have more data on firearms being illegally trafficked across state lines.
A lot of firearms are, of course, obtained through the black market. They're obtained illegally, but there is not currently a statute in place that makes firearm trafficking a federal crime. That is something that actually did incidentally come up for a vote, the last time Congress really seriously debated the issue of gun control after the Sandy Hook shooting in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012. When there was a debate around gun legislation in 2013, there was an amendment to try and make tougher laws around firearms trafficking, but it did not ultimately pass the Senate at the time.
I think this is just a report. This is a report that the federal government would produce each year on firearms trafficking, but I think the administration hopes that it could help inform possible legislation to identify where there are loopholes and how many people are obtaining firearms illegally and where exactly is that taking place.
Nancy: You mentioned how hard it is to get gun legislation through the deeply divided Senate. What about this proposal? Where do you see President Biden trying to narrow the scope of this to get it through the Senate, and what do you think his chances are?
Sabrina: I think it's interesting that they're not putting a lot of their political capital behind gun control as an issue through the legislative process. His next big priority is infrastructure. I think that's just the reality that there are votes in the democratic controlled house to expand background checks, to ban assault rifles and high capacity magazines but in a 50-50 Senate, where you need support from Republicans to get to 60 votes and pass any legislation, there simply is not much appetite. Certainly, among Republicans, there's very little support for any legislation that would enforce stricter gun laws.
I think they know the math really isn't there. It'll be interesting to see how much they try to expand their political capital on this issue moving forward, but right now, under the current rules, unless Biden does away with the filibuster, which is a whole separate conversation, I don't think that any major gun control legislation is going through Congress at this time.
Nancy: Sabrina Siddiqui is a White House reporter at The Wall Street Journal.
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