To Fight Rising Crime, Biden Goes After Gun Dealers Who Break Law
Pushing for stricter penalties for gun dealers who violate federal laws, as well as summer hiring programs for teenagers and community job initiatives, President Joe Biden tries to get ahead of countrywide rising crime rates.
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President Joe Biden is announcing new efforts to stem a rising national tide of violent crime by going after gun dealers who fail to comply with federal laws and revoking their license to sell after the first offense, reports the Associated Press. The president has already announced a half-dozen executive actions on gun control, including cracking down on “ghost guns,” homemade firearms that lack serial numbers used to trace them and that are often purchased without a background check. He will also seek increased transparency on gun data and better coordination among states, and he will push Congress for more money for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the agency responsible for enforcing federal gun laws and regulating gun dealers.
The Justice Department is also launching strike forces in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., to help take down illegal gun traffickers, building on an initiative begun last month. Biden is expected to also push cities to use $122 billion to help keep schoolchildren busy this summer — they’re often both targets and perpetrators of violence — and to expand summer hiring programs for teenagers. Labor Department funding will be used to provide pre-apprenticeship jobs for youths and help formerly incarcerated adults and young people in 28 communities get work. The White House also planned to convene a bipartisan meeting Wednesday of law enforcement officials, politicians, activists and prosecutors and will meet with 14 jurisdictions from around the country that have committed to using a portion of the funding for violence intervention programs.
