As Americans continue to face the threat of mass shootings, President Joe Biden and his team continue to pursue action.
“This attack was a direct blow at the soul of the nation,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said around the anniversary of a mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo. “More broadly, the President continues to take action to address these overlapping scourges from issuing a first-ever National Strategy for Domestic Terrorism to signing landmark hate crimes legislation to convening a historic United We Stand Summit at the White House. We have substantially increased federal resources to prevent and respond to targeted violence and terrorism. The President signed the first major gun safety legislation in 30 years and has taken more executive action to reduce gun violence than any other president. And yet, shooting after shooting tells us there is so much more work ahead to protect public safety, national security, and the fundamentals of our democracy.”
Both chambers of Congress and President Biden gathered behind a legislative proposal called the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act that was widely hailed as a monumental piece of legislation on guns. Signed into law last year, it contained provisions like a closure of the so-called boyfriend loophole, meaning that individuals convicted of domestic violence offenses in dating relationships would be placed under the same scrutinizing restrictions as those limited from access to firearms because of such actions in the context of a marriage. As concerns continue to mount about access to firearms for teenagers, it also expanded on the requirements for background checks of prospective gun purchasers under 21, incorporating an examination of juvenile records.
