Consider This from NPR - With Congress Divided Over New Gun Legislation, Biden Issues Executive Order

Episode Date: March 16, 2023

President Joe Biden has signed an executive order that he says can keep more guns out of the hands of dangerous people by increasing the number of buyers who have to submit background checks.The White House says that's the closest the U.S. can get to universal background checks without additional legislation from Congress, where Democrats and Republicans remain divided on any new actions aimed at reducing gun violence.NPR's Deepa Shivaram reports on the order, which Biden announced during a visit to Monterey Park, California, where a gunman killed 11 people and injured nine more in January, one of over 110 mass shootings in the U.S. so far this year.And NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with White House domestic policy adviser Susan Rice about the order's potential impact and where gun legislation goes from here.In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The U.S. has had more mass shootings than days so far this year, at least 110 mass shootings. And with each comes calls for the country to do more to prevent future tragedies. The federal government needs to step up. People need to have the courage and the conviction to do what we know will save lives. California Attorney General Rob Bonta calling for action after the state saw two mass shootings within three days in January. Eleven people were killed, nine injured, in a shooting at a dance studio in Monterey Park. Three days later, seven were killed at nearby farms in Half Moon Bay. David Pine, head of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, had this to say at a press conference. There are simply too many guns in this country, and there has to be a change. This is not an acceptable way for modern society to live and

conduct its affairs. In February, three students were killed and five injured in a school shooting at Michigan State University. Democratic Congresswoman Alyssa Slotkin noted that shooting came in the wake of another one at a high school in nearby Oxford Township, Michigan, in November 2021. A student there opened fire and killed four of his classmates. I cannot believe that I am here again doing this 15 months later. And I am filled with rage that we have to have another press conference to talk about our children being killed in their schools. And I would say that you either care about protecting kids or you don't. Last summer, Congress passed the most significant gun safety legislation in nearly 30 years,

encouraging states to take steps to remove guns from people considered a threat and expanding background checks on younger buyers. Fourteen Republicans joined Democrats in the House to approve the bill. President Biden signed it into law. But guns remain at the core of one of the sharpest partisan divides in this country, and chances of Congress passing any further bills to address gun violence seem slim. This week at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and Marsha Blackburn argued that Democrats should instead focus on tougher actions on crime. People on our side are going to be unanimous in the idea that responsible gun ownership is part of American society. Guns are used every day to defend

Americans and people abuse their right to own a weapon. And I would hope we could find common ground to go after those who abuse the right to own a weapon. It is outrageous, absolutely outrageous. Instead of prosecuting violent criminals who are committing these crimes, that many on the left are focused on criminalizing gun ownership for law-abiding citizens. So, for now, action on guns appears to be stalled in the legislative branch, even more so with a Republican-led House. But there's new movement on the issue out of the executive branch. Consider this.

This week, President Biden announced an executive order that he says could keep more guns out of the hands of dangerous people. Today, I'm announcing another executive order that will accelerate and intensify this work to save more lives more quickly. Among other measures, Biden's order aims to increase the number of gun buyers who have to submit to background checks. The White House says that is the closest the U.S. can get to universal background checks without additional legislation from Congress. More details on the measure and a conversation with White House domestic policy advisor Susan Rice after the break. From NPR, I'm Mary Louise Kelly. It's Thursday, March 16th. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things in other currencies.

Send, spend, or receive money internationally, and always get the real-time mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Download the WISE app today, or visit WISE.com. T's and C's apply. It's Consider This from NPR. In January, four days after the mass shooting in Monterey Park, California, Vice President Kamala Harris traveled there to meet with the families of victims. We will always, as a compassionate nation, mourn for the loss and pray for those who survive. And I'm suffering. mourn for the loss and pray for those who survive and not recover. But we must also require that leaders in our nation who have the ability and the power and the responsibility to do something, that they act. Earlier this week, President Biden made the journey to Monterey Park himself to announce his executive order. NPR's Deepa Shivaram shares this report.

The gymnasium at the Boys and Girls Club in Monterey Park was packed. It was the president's first visit since the mass shooting that took place in January. I'm here on behalf of the American people to mourn with you, to pray with you, to let you know you are loved and not alone. Biden shared anecdotes about each of the victims, and later he met privately with the families of those who died. But the president also said he was there to do something about gun violence. We remember and mourn today, but I'm here with you today to act. Biden signed an executive order to try to get smaller firearm sellers and online sellers to conduct background checks on someone buying a gun. Last year, more than 31 million background checks took place,

according to the FBI. The White House didn't have answers on how many more checks they expect will happen with this new move, but they say it's the closest the U.S. can get to universal background checks without additional legislation from Congress. And there's more. We need to provide more mental health support for grief and trauma. And more financial assistance when a family loses the sole breadwinner. Biden wants the government to step in to help communities impacted by mass shootings, the way FEMA helps after a natural disaster.

His executive order also allows the government to name and shame more people who break the rules. And that's a good move, says Greg Jackson, the president of a gun advocacy group called the Community Justice Action Fund. We're excited that there is now a stronger push for accountability to the manufacturers, the industry and the dealers that frankly are profiting off of the pain. In the lead up to 2024, there are political benefits to Biden's executive order as well. Democratic strategist Tori Gavito says Biden's actions help push back on claims that Democrats are soft on crime. People have been looking for leaders to do something on this for so long.

She says Biden's background checks will have a lot of appeal across both parties. In an NPR poll from last summer, even 80 percent of Republican gun owners said they favored universal background checks. That was NPR's Deepa Shivaram. I spoke about Biden's new executive order with Susan Rice, the president's domestic policy advisor and a former national security advisor in the Obama administration. I began by questioning Rice about the provision in the new order that ensures all background checks required by law are actually conducted. And I asked, why is that not being done already? Well, Mary Louise, there are actually gaps and loopholes in existing laws that relates to universal background checks, which is why the president has for so many years and continues

to this day to call on Congress to pass legislation that would ensure universal background checks. But the laws that are already on the books, why are they not being enforced? The laws that are on the books are being enforced, and an important new law was passed last summer, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which changed the definition of who is, quote, engaged in the business of selling firearms. So what the President's Executive Order does today is to direct the Attorney General to examine ways to clarify that definition to ensure that everybody who should be subject to background checks who's selling firearms are required to comply. So this executive order and the action that the Attorney General will take in response to it will bring

us as close as we possibly can to ensuring universal background checks without new legislation. So I'm trying to wrap my head around what that means, what will actually change here. I saw one thing that part of this is going to be naming and shaming federally licensed firearms dealers who may be breaking the law. Is that right? There is a provision of the executive order, which is actually quite expansive. to direct the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to make public, to the extent the law allows, the inspection reports that they conduct on licensed firearm dealers who are found to be in violation of their obligations in the law. So that's the portion that you might call naming and shaming. At the same time, the executive order also, very importantly, directs steps to raise public awareness of so-called red flag orders. These are laws that enable responsible community members to petition a judge to say that a certain person that they are close to,

they believe to be a danger to themselves or to others, if the judge agrees, then that person can temporarily be prohibited from accessing or acquiring a firearm. And those are laws that obviously would only work if people know about them and know how to use them. Exactly. And that's the point, is to raise awareness. And similarly, on safe storage of firearms, so many horrific incidents we've heard about stem from the fact that people who shouldn't have their hands on a gun that belongs to a family member or somebody else in the household or the like can get their hands on it and do terrible things, as we have seen even with very young children of late. And so raising awareness about

safe storage requirements and practices is also very important. Susan Rice, you will have seen there's already criticism of this order saying it's largely symbolic that we are living in a country where we have seen 110 mass shootings already this year, and it is March. To that criticism, you say what? Well, I say, first of all, I'm grateful to the many advocates and members of Congress and others who have heralded this executive order as a huge step forward because they understand how important these steps are. Those who oppose it are typically the ones that are, you know, defending the gun manufacturers and the gun lobby and the NRA who don't want to see any

additional action in this space. But the reality is, Mary Louise, there are limits to what any president can do through executive action. This order takes this administration and this president as far as we believe it's possible to go. Because for something like a ban on assault-style weapons or a real universal background check, the president, any president needs Congress. So that's my last question to you. Do you have a plan? Does the White House have a plan to break through gridlock in Congress on this issue? Well, Mary Louise, as you know, most Americans understand the value of universal background checks by a large margin and the need to ban assault weapons and high

capacity magazines. There's one party, though, in Congress who sees it differently. And so, as you may have noticed, and as I hope the American people have noticed, the president is relentless in virtually every public appearance he makes. He calls for a reinstatement of the assault weapon ban and is pushing on that because he knows, based on prior experience, when it was implemented for 10 years back in the 1990s, the number of shootings dropped dramatically. He calls for it, but do you have any realistic hope that it might pass? I think that, look, we saw it pass the House of Representatives in the prior Congress. I think there's prospects in the democratically controlled Senate down the road,

but what we have seen in the House of Representatives under the new leadership is absolutely not encouraging. That was White House domestic policy advisor Susan Rice. It's Consider This. From NPR, I'm Mary Louise Kelly.