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Rep. Virginia Foxx Responds to President Joe Biden’s Executive Order to Address Gun Violence

By Nathan Ham

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden issued an Executive Order addressing six key areas of gun violence in the wake of a pair of mass shootings in Atlanta and in Boulder, Colorado.

The Executive Order directs the Justice Department to issue a proposed rule to stop the creation of “ghost guns” within the next 30 days. Ghost guns are guns that can be built from a kit purchased online. The guns have no serial numbers or any identifying marks that make it traceable. The order also gives the Justice Department 60 days to propose a rule making any stabilizing brace that can effectively turn a pistol into a short-barreled rifle subject to the requirements of the National Firearms Act, and 60 days to publish a model of a “red flag” law for states. Red flag laws allow family members or law enforcement to petition for a court order that would temporarily bar people in crisis from accessing firearms if they present a danger to themselves or others.

The other three issues mentioned in the Executive Order include investing in evidence-based community violence interventions, providing an annual report on firearms trafficking from the Justice Department, and the nomination of David Chipman to serve as Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The ATF has not had a confirmed director since 2015.

United States Representative Virginia Foxx took aim at President Biden’s Executive Order on the grounds that it is a way of getting around the Second Amendment protections of the United States Constitution.

“President Biden made his intentions to circumvent the Constitution and the Second Amendment rights of countless, law-abiding patriots in this country very clear. Instead of turning his attention to the crisis of his own making at the southern border, or the continued increase of violence in our nation’s cities, he now believes that pushing at the margins of the Second Amendment is a more important undertaking. The actions are completely misguided. Instead of proposing legislation for states to curtail gun ownership and infringe on due process and Second Amendment rights, he should be encouraging states to enforce their laws and prosecute violent criminals to the fullest extent of the law. Instead of throwing money at ‘community violence interruption programs,’ the Biden Administration should seek to withhold federal funds to jurisdictions that fail to protect their citizens and uphold current law,” said Foxx. “The Second Amendment clearly states that the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, and President Biden would do well to remember that. Crime is spiking across America’s cities, but this Administration would rather let chaos reign while law and order – and especially the rights of Americans – wither and expire. I stand alongside my Republican colleagues in the People’s House in opposing this failed strategy and wrongheaded Executive actions.”

U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx represents North Carolina’s 5th Congressional District and is the Republican Leader of the House Committee on Education and Labor.