President Joe Biden is expected to sign an executive order on Thursday, aimed at assisting schools in developing drills to address campus shootings, reduce harm to students, and maintain the effectiveness of the exercises. The executive order will also restrict new technologies that make firearms more accessible and easier to use.
The 81-year-old president has stated that curbing gun violence has always been one of his top priorities. He has pledged that he and his administration will work to address what he deems the most critical issues until the end of his term.
President Biden has often mentioned comforting too many victims and visiting too many scenes of mass shootings. He has played a vital role in advancing gun safety legislation, seeking to ban assault weapons, limit gun use, and help communities affected by violence. He established the first office dedicated to preventing gun violence, led by Vice President Kamala Harris.
Both Biden and Harris will discuss the devastation of gun violence during an event in the White House Rose Garden in the afternoon.
Stefanie Feldman, director of the Office of Gun Violence Prevention in Biden’s office, stated that the new order instructs her agency to study how school shootings traumatize students and educators to help schools develop exercise plans to “maximize the effectiveness of training and limit any potential harm.”
According to the order, a special task force will be established to investigate the threats posed by machine gun conversion devices, which can modify semi-automatic handguns into automatic firearms. Additionally, the task force will focus on the increasingly popular 3D-printed guns, which are created from internet codes, easy to manufacture, and lack serial numbers that law enforcement cannot trace.
The special task force is required to submit a report within 90 days, considering Biden’s departure is not far off.
(Reference: Associated Press)