President Joe Biden issued an executive order that will expand background checks on gun sales, the White House said Tuesday.
According to an fact sheet from the White House, Biden traveled to Monterey Park, California, where a mass shooting occurred in January, to announce the order.
“The Executive Order will also keep more guns out of dangerous hands by increasing the effective use of ‘red flag’ laws, strengthen efforts to hold the gun industry accountable, and accelerate law enforcement efforts to identify and apprehend the shooters menacing our communities,” the announcement said. “President Biden is also encouraging the Federal Trade Commission to issue a public report analyzing how gun manufacturers market firearms to minors.”
The fact sheet claimed that the order “[falls] within existing executive authority and outside of the right protected by the Second Amendment” and that it moves the country “as close to universal background checks as possible without additional legislation.”
Today’s Executive Order will accelerate the Biden-Harris Administration’s work to reduce gun violence – saving more lives more quickly. pic.twitter.com/YwTy7soxZb
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 14, 2023
In recent months, Biden called on Congress to ban so-called “assault weapons,” as well as high-capacity magazines, including in his State of the Union address.
Biden again proposes an “Assault Weapons Ban.”
— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) February 8, 2023
The only problem is criminals don’t follow the law. A ban would ONLY disarm law-abiding Americans and make them prime targets for criminals and tyrants. #StateOfTheUnion pic.twitter.com/afW8ofRaY4
Biden invited Brandon Tsay, a 26-year-old man who wrestled a semi-automatic pistol away from the gunman in the Monterey Park shooting to his State of the Union address.
This month, Townhall covered how several major payment processing companies, including Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc., were planning to implement a Merchant Category Code (MCC) for gun store purchases. However, the companies paused the change as it’s being challenged by state legislatures.
"Today, there are bills advancing in several states related to the use of this new code. If passed, the result will be an inconsistency in how this ISO standard could be applied by merchants, issuers, acquirers and networks," said Seth Eisen, senior vice president of communications for Mastercard. "It’s for that reason that we have decided to pause work on the implementation of the firearms-specific MCC."