WASHINGTON (CN) — President Joe Biden will sign an executive order targeting gun violence Thursday, launching government task forces focused on threats from emerging firearms technology and improving active shooter drills in schools.
A little over a year after creating the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, the White House said the orders would leverage department and agency leadership to identify additional actions to reduce gun violence.
“These actions are a great illustration of the work that the Biden-Harris administration will be advancing over the next four months to reduce gun violence and save lives, which is a priority for President Biden and Vice President Harris, not only throughout this administration but throughout their careers,” Stef Feldman, director for the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, told reporters.
Both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will deliver remarks at an event with gun violence advocates and survivors, leaders of community violence intervention programs, law enforcement, mayors and other state and local elected officials, according to a senior White House official. The event marks the first major gun violence prevention event Biden and Harris have done since last year.
Biden wants the emerging threats task force to assess the dangers of machine gun conversion devices and unserialized 3D-printed firearms. In 90 days, the task force will report on federal agency operations and legal capacities to detect, intercept and seize these devices. The president instructed the task force to develop an interagency plan targeting these weapons, including any additional agency actions or funding requirements from Congress.
The move comes only months after the Supreme Court struck down a ban on bump stocks — add-on devices allowing semiautomatic weapons to simulate automatic fire. The Trump-era policy was enacted after a gunman used the device to fire over 1,000 bullets into a Las Vegas concert in 2017, killing 58 people and wounding over 850 more in only 11 minutes.
In their upcoming term, the justices will examine Biden’s rule tightening regulations on unserialized firearms parts kits, often called ghost guns. Before the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms announced a new rule classifying these weapons under existing regulations, manufacturers could sell parts kits that can be assembled into fully functional firearms online, without background checks or serial number requirements.
While the fate of the administration’s ghost gun rule won’t be certain until Biden has left office, a senior White House official said the executive order aimed at taking all of government strategy. The task force’s report, the official said, will look at how Customs and Border Patrol, Department of Commerce, State Department or agency authorities can add to prior actions.
A second task force will research how to improve active shooter drills in the nation’s schools.
“The majority of schools are currently using drills to prepare for an active shooter situation, but there is very limited research on how to design and deploy these drills to maximize their effectiveness and limit any collateral harms they might cause,” Feldman said.
The country marked the latest mass shooting at a school on Sept. 4 when two students and two teachers were fatally shot at a Georgia high school. A 14-year-old and his father have been arrested on murder charges.
Harris’ college tours were influential in this effort, according to a senior White House official, who said students told the vice president personal anecdotes about having nightmares from the drills.
In a recent campaign interview with Oprah Winfrey, Harris disclosed that she owns a gun. According to the official, Harris mirrors many American gun owners who also support common-sense gun safety laws.
Biden directed the secretaries of Education, omeland security, and health and human services to work with the attorney general and U.S. surgeon general to investigate active shooter drills, identifying existing information and any research gaps. The task force was instructed to issue a report on its findings early next year.
The administration declared gun violence a public health threat in June. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy revealed that 37 out of every 1 million Americans between the ages of 1 and 19 were killed by firearms in 2019. The surgeon general’s official also reported a 20% spike in young people who died by suicide using a firearm.
In addition to Biden’s order, several other government agencies plan to announce new actions to implement through the bipartisan Safer Communities Act. Feldman listed efforts to promote safe gun storage, promote red flag laws, fund community violence interventions, improve background checks, expand data on gun violence and gun trafficking and prevent firearm suicide.
As concerns over violent crime continue to be top of mind for voters, the White House stressed the correlation between the administration’s policies and declining crime rates.
This month, the Justice Department reported a 17% drop in homicides, and Gun Violence Archive reports show that the number of mass shootings is down 20% in 2024 when compared to the same period last year.
“The president and the vice president helped deliver over $15 billion in funding through the American Rescue Plan for law enforcement, community violence interventions and other public safety strategies,” Feldman said. “By the middle of 2022, the Biden administration had already announced more executive actions to reduce gun violence than any other administration.”