Mention Shooting Actions An Epidemic, President Joe Biden Announces Gun Restriction Measures

Illustration of a gun store in the United States. (Wikimedia Commons/Cimmerian praetor)

JAKARTA - United States President Joe Biden, accompanied by Attorney General Merrick Garland, announced limited measures to tackle gun violence in the United States on Thursday local time.

According to Reuters on Friday, April 9, this is the first step the White House has taken to curb mass shootings, bloodshed, and suicides.

These include the Justice Department's plan to crack down on all kinds of self-assembled weapons, capable of turning handguns into rifles, that violate the National Firearms Act.

Biden said he would ask the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE) to release its annual report on the firearms trade in the United States. It also makes it easier for states to adopt 'red flag' provisions to flag at-risk individuals who own guns.

Biden also outlined more ambitious goals he needs to achieve by Congressional support, including reintroducing the assault weapons ban, revoking exceptions to lawsuits against gun manufacturers, and passing a 'red flag' provision into national law.

"Today we are taking steps to deal with not only the gun crisis but what really is a public health crisis. This is an epidemic, for God's sake, and must be stopped", said President Joe Biden.

Gun restriction advocates welcomed the announcement, given the rampant gun violence in the United States in recent days, such as mass shootings in California, Georgia, Colorado, and Atlanta.

"This is a significant set of actions. Some of the most important words he said were: this is just the beginning", said Peter Ambler, Executive Director of Giffords, a gun violence prevention group.

Gun control is a politically divisive subject in the United States, which has experienced a large number of deadly mass shootings in schools and other public places over the decades.

The National Rifle Association, which advocates for gun rights, criticized the actions taken by Joe Biden's administration.

"The proposal Biden announced today could require law-abiding citizens to turn over legitimate property and allow states to expand gun confiscation orders", he said in a statement.

For the record, the Second Amendment to the US Constitution protects the right to own a gun, and the state's efforts to limit who can buy a gun or how they can carry it has been challenged in court by pro-gun lobby groups.

"Everything proposed today is completely consistent with the Second Amendment. And there is a broad consensus behind the need to take action", President Biden said.