There has been a push for President Joe Biden to address the issue of “gun violence” in America during his State of the Union address on February 7.
As a result of resistance from supporters of the Second Amendment, the White House and the Democrats have recently suffered a string of judicial defeats and challenges.
Under the banner of the “#THETIMEISNOW” Coalition, these organizations wrote the following open letter to President Biden:
While Congress must keep preventing gun violence at the top of its agenda, you may make a strong statement during the State of the Union by proposing sweeping legislation to cut gun deaths.
Some one hundred and seventeen progressive groups have formed a coalition to push for a national emergency declaration and a federal office to reduce gun deaths.
To “streamline” “federal, state, and local government’s efforts to save lives,” they also want a director appointed permanently to head that position.
Brady, the Gun Violence Prevention PAC, the American Federation of Teachers, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, MomsRising, and the Newtown Action Network are all part of the coalition that signed the letter.
The signers also demanded several executive actions, such as direct instructions to the Federal Trade Commission to fully enforce restrictions that prohibit unfair or misleading practices related to the advertising of firearms to minors and the full enforcement of the ban on the import of foreign-made assault weapons with no “sporting purpose.”
They want more money allocated to communities most hit by violence and more training for federal investigators to properly conduct background checks on buyers under the age of 21 in addition to the gun safety measures passed by the Democrat-controlled Congress last year.
To close the “background check loophole,” the coalition proposes targeting the “biggest suppliers of criminal guns” using the new firearms trafficking statute and demanding more significant funding from the government.
They also asked that Biden openly express the scale of the “gun epidemic” to the American people by creating public campaigns that stress the dangers of keeping firearms in the house and that he calls on Congress to invest $5 billion in financing for community violence intervention programs.
The Republican majority in the House makes it highly improbable that the White House will be able to get further funding or votes for future gun control initiatives.
In preparation for Biden’s address to Congress, the organizers have proposed he uses his executive powers to circumvent the House and promise to adopt laws and regulations to fulfill their demands.
With two horrific shootings in California in January, Biden has reiterated his demand that Congress approve legislation outlawing assault rifles.
Meanwhile, on January 31, a conservative law firm in Texas challenged new federal restrictions prohibiting weapons with stabilizing braces.
The Institute for Law and Liberty filed the lawsuit on behalf of three veterans to overturn the gun-brace regulations enacted by the ATF.