News

Oct 15, 2024

Biden signs order addressing 3D-printed guns, school shooter drills alongside VP Harris

President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Thursday hoping to get schools to create active shooter drills that are still effective without being as traumatic for students and place restrictions

President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Thursday hoping to get schools to create active shooter drills that are still effective without being as traumatic for students and place restrictions on technology that makes guns easier to fire and get.

During the event, Vice President Kamala Harris said she believed the right to be safe was a civil right — and that means a right to live free from gun violence.

Harris said the American people have a right to “live, work, worship and learn without fear of violence -- including gun violence.”

“We just have to do better and can do better,” Biden said, also calling for better funding for federal law enforcement. “Never thought I’d have to sign something like this, but we do.”

He often says he has consoled too many victims and traveled to the scenes of too many mass shootings. But there's more to do, he says, and he'll continue to work after he leaves office.

“It’s time we establish universal background checks and require safe storage of firearms,” Biden said. “Start holding parents accountable for being negligent.”

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, in introducing the president, told the crowd about his personal experience with gun violence. His brother was shot to death and he heard his mother's screams of pain.

“I heard that scream again this past Saturday, as the lives of four people were stolen and 17 other victims were shot during the horrific mass shooting in Birmingham," he said.

Curbing gun violence has been a priority for Biden in his one term in office, though much of his work has come through executive action as Congress has not moved significant legislation addressing gun control since 2022. Biden signed a bipartisan bill two years ago after the Uvalde mass shooting that incentivizes red flag laws, expanded background checks on people ages 18 to 21 and added to a law restricting people convicted of domestic abuse from owning a gun.

The executive order will require the government to research how active shooter drills could traumatize students and figure out a way to maximize their effectiveness while limiting the potential drawbacks.

It will also create a task force investigating what threats are created by conversion devices that can turn a semi-automatic pistol into a fully automatic firearm. Biden’s order will also have the task force examine the growing use of 3D-printed guns that have been difficult for police to track due to the ease of printing one based on an internet code and a lack of a serial number.

The task force will be required to report back in 90 days, shortly before Biden is due to leave office.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.