Earlier this week, President Joe Biden signed an executive order which was aimed at further tightening federal gun restrictions. While Biden described it as a “common sense” decision, Second Amendment advocates see the move as an attempt to kill off their constitutional rights. Biden said he was in Monterey Part to “remember and mourn” According to USA Today, the president touted his executive order while giving a speech in Monterey Park, California on Tuesday.
Biden referenced a mass shooting that took place in Monterey Park just over two months ago which resulted in 11 people being murdered.
“We remember and mourn today, but I’m here with you today to act,” USA Today quoted the president as telling his audience.
“I’m here on behalf of the American people to mourn with you, to pray with you, to let you know that you’re loved and not alone,” Biden added before reading the victims’ names and then praising a 26-year-old Brandon Tsay, who managed to disarm the shooter.
California already has some of America’s strictest gun laws
What’s more, the president demanded additional legislative action, saying, “Let’s finish the job,” Biden said Tuesday. “Ban assault weapons. Ban them again. Do it now. Enough. Do something. Do something big.”
President Biden continues to call on Congress to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, require background checks for all gun sales, and close the dating violence restraining order loophole. pic.twitter.com/GCLzIZi9wg
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 15, 2023
Interestingly, California already has some of the country’s most restrictive gun control laws. They include a ban on so-called assault weapons, limits on magazine capacity, a prohibition on open carry, and universal background checks.
Included in Biden’s executive order is a requirement that all background checks be finalized before gun purchases, a step the president said is designed to move “the U.S. as close to universal background checks as possible without additional legislation.”
Father of shooting victim: “Criminals don’t obey gun laws”
It also promotes the adoption of more so-called “red flag” laws, legislation under which firearms can be seized, often with minimal due process.
Another provision orders the Federal Trade Commission to create a report on how the firearms industry is marketing weapons to minors and others through the use of military imagery.
Fox News noted that critics were quick to dismiss Biden’s executive order. One of them was Florida State Board of Education member Ryan Petty.
Petty, who lost his daughter in a mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School, told the network, “Criminals don’t obey gun laws.”