(CALmatters) – After yet another wave of mass shootings, including one in Orange County, President Biden took aim at gun violence Thursday — and a page from California’s playbook.
In new proposed executive orders, Biden plans to:
- Require home-assembled “ghost guns” to be etched with serial numbers, and subject buyers of these kits to background checks;
- Develop model “red flag” laws, which allow firearms to be temporarily removed from people deemed high-risk;
- Pour federal money into gun violence “intervention” programs.
If Biden’s new orders sound at all familiar, that’s because California already has many of them on its books. DIY guns are required to include state-issued serial numbers. In 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill requiring anyone who buys an “unfinished receiver” — the pre-finished gun frame that gets milled into a functioning firearm — to get a background check first. That law, however, doesn’t go into effect until 2024.
This is Biden’s first crack at changing national gun policy and stops short of his campaign promise to ban “assault rifles.” But he stressed these are first steps. Bigger changes will require Congress to step up, something Biden demanded: “Enough prayers, time for some action.”
Note: The deciding vote in the Senate is currently this guy.
Newsom, one of the nation’s most vocal proponents of tough gun regulation, applauded Biden’s moves — along with California’s own efforts.
- Newsom, in a statement: “California has led the nation in passing gun safety laws. We are grateful to now have a partner in the White House who knows we can – and must – do more to end gun violence.”