Gun Violence- Team Biden

The US accounts for just 4% of the world’s population but 35% of global firearm suicides. Americans are 25 times more likely to be killed in a gun homicide than people in other high-income countries. We have seen mass shootings per year go up from 5.1 percent under the Obama Administration to 7.9 under Trump’s, and why have we not seen any meaningful gun reform over the last 4 years? Because organizations like the NRA have backed the President’s and other Republican campaigns to keep their profits up. Following last year's shootings in Dayton Ohio and El Paso, President Trump was open to considering reform in gun control laws like ending the “gun show” loophole, after speaking to the President of the NRA, Trump reverted his comments. The Senate-minority leader Chuck Schumer says it best, “These retreats from President Trump are not only disappointing but also heartbreaking, particularly for the families of the victims of gun violence.” After the Democratic Party took control of the House of Representatives following the 2018 midterm election, they introduced legislation to expand background checks and more tightly regulate gun sales and transfers, the Trump administration threatened to veto the measures if the legislation came to the president’s desk. Not only has President Trump refused to sign new legislation, but he has also been repealing regulations regarding people with mental illness from purchasing firearms from the Obama-Biden administration. Instead, President Trump has spewed ludicrous ideas like having school teachers keep firearms in the classrooms to prevent school shootings. This would not only be ineffective, but it would put children in more danger. Unlike President Trump, Joe Biden knows how to make progress on reducing gun violence using executive action. After the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, President Obama tasked Vice President Biden with developing both legislative proposals and executive actions to make our communities safer. As a result of this effort, the Obama-Biden Administration took more than two dozen actions, including narrowing the so-called “gun show loophole,” increasing the number of records in the background check system, and expanding funding for mental health services. Joe Biden has taken the National Rifle Association twice on the national stage and has won both times. In 1993, as a Senator, Biden helped pass the federal background checks law, which has since kept more than 3 million firearms out of dangerous hands and still the law stands today. Additionally, in the 1994 Crime bill, Vice President Biden helped write a 10-year assault weapon ban. Joe Biden does respect the second amendment, but technology since the times of our founding fathers has advanced, and there must be meaningful change to gun laws in order to protect American lives.

Under a Biden Presidency, there will be a complete ban on assault weapons, universal background checks, and the development of smart weapons that will only allow the owner of the weapon to use the firearm. This will also incentivize states to adopt “red flag” laws, which allow courts to confiscate guns from people deemed a risk to themselves or to others.