WASHINGTON DC—On Tuesday, March 14, President Joe Biden signed an Executive Order to implement the Safer Communities Act that was passed last year.
According to The U.S. Department of Congress website S2938, The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act was signed by the 117th Congress on June 25, 2022.
Section One of the outline is in recognition of the mass shootings, homicides, and suicides happening every week across the country. Biden indicated that gun manufacturers must be held accountable.
“My Administration has taken action to keep guns out of dangerous hands and especially dangerous weapons off of our streets; hold gun traffickers and rogue gun dealers accountable; fund accountable, effective community policing; and invest in community violence interventions and prevention strategies.
“I continue to call on the Congress to take additional action to reduce gun violence, including by banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, requiring background checks for all gun sales, requiring safe storage of firearms, funding my comprehensive Safer America Plan, and expanding community violence intervention and prevention strategies. In the meantime, my Administration will continue to do all that we can, within existing authority, to make our communities safer,” Biden stated.
Section Two is titled, “The Implementation of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.”
Section two of the March 14 Executive Order demands reports within 60 days from the U.S. Attorney General’s office, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, and the Secretary of Health and Human Services describing what actions they are taking to implement the Safer Communities Act passed in June of 2022.
Section three goes into more depth of what the Attorney General’s job will entail including dealing with firearms dealers, and criminal background checks.
In addition, President Biden requested the Department of Defense and the Attorney General’s office to expand existing campaigns against gun violence, and the Secretary of Transportation to improve reporting of the violence.
Section Four Definitions are as follows:
“For purposes of this order, the term ‘Federal law enforcement agency’ means an organizational unit or subunit of the executive branch that employs officers who are authorized to make arrests and carry firearms, and that is responsible for the prevention, detection, and investigation of crime or the apprehension of alleged offenders. The term ‘heads of Federal law enforcement agencies’ means the heads of those units or subunits.”
Section Five emphasizes that the Executive Order is not to be taken out of context.
