Democrats failed to fully advance their gun control agenda by democratic means in Congress, so it appears they’ve elected to impose it on the nation by way of presidential edict.
According to the Washington Post, President Joe Biden, whose son is presently facing three counts of felony gun charges, will announce Friday the creation of a new office for “gun violence prevention,” usually intended as a euphemism for gun control.
The Hill reported that in January, a coalition of 117 gun control groups penned a letter to Biden asking for a federal office for gun violence prevention and that he appoint a full-time director for the effort. They also demanded that Biden declare a national emergency around gun violence and to ban foreign-manufactured firearms that ostensibly have no “sporting purpose.”
Four individuals reportedly briefed on the forthcoming action, who spoke on condition of anonymity to the Post, indicated that Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will make the announcement in the White House Rose Garden on Friday afternoon. The White House declined to provide the Post with comment.
Stefanie Feldman, a longtime Biden staffer, will likely helm the gun control office.
Feldman, who
became an assistant to the president and staff secretary in May, has worked for Biden for over a decade, having previously served as the national policy director for his campaign, the inaugural policy director for the Biden Institute at the University of Delaware, and as an aide in the Obama administration.
Politico
reported that Greg Jackson, the executive director of the gun control group Community Justice Action Fund — an outfit connected to the radical leftist, Soros-funded Tides Foundation — is expected to hold a senior role in Biden’s new office along with Rob Wilcox, the senior director for federal government affairs at Everytown for Gun Safety.
Shannon Watts, the founder emerita of the gun control group Moms Demand Action, told the Post, “If this announcement is, in fact, the creation of a single point of leadership on gun violence in the administration, it’s a very big deal for the movement.”
“For years, we’ve advocated for a centralized team responsible for coordinating federal and state resources and mobilizing movement partners,” added Watts. “A governmental focal point dedicated to creating a framework for overseeing national policy, research and resources would be more than symbolic — it would be a significant turning point for the movement.”
Biden, now
neck and neck with former President Donald Trump in the polls, has long been keen to curb Second Amendment rights, having last year ratified the first major federal gun control bill in 30 years, the
Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. The BSCA provides funding for state red-flag laws and expands background checks for gun purchasers.
This week, gun rights advocate John Lott and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.)
noted that the “innocuous-sounding BSCA will radically change gun ownership,” particularly since the “Biden administration is trying to use the BSCA to implement universal background checks on all gun purchases and to track virtually everyone who obtains a gun.”
In April 2022, Biden
announced that his Department of Justice had issued a final rule to rein in so-called “ghost guns,” banning their manufacture and clarifying that unserialized “buy build shoot” kits qualify as firearms under the Gun Control Act of 1968.
The Democratic president has also
called on Congress to ban so-called “assault weapons” and high-capacity magazines as well as for lawmakers to repeal gun manufacturers’ immunity to liability.
According to Politico, the announcement of this executive office ahead of the 2024 presidential election may serve to make the 80-year-old president appear less politically impotent on the gun control issue, “potentially increasing enthusiasm among key voting blocs.”
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!