Report: Biden Is Planning a Big Announcement on Guns

Sources say gun control advocate David Chipman will be new ATF director
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 7, 2021 4:39 PM CDT
Report: Biden Is Planning a Big Announcement on Guns
In this Sept. 25, 2019 photo, Giffords Law Center Senior Policy Advisor David Chipman speaks at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on assault weapons on Capitol Hill in Washington.   (The Biden administration is expected to nominate Chipman, a former federal agent and adviser at the gun control group Giffords, to be director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

President Biden has so far failed to deliver on the gun control promises he made as a candidate, but that could be set to change on Thursday. Sources tell Politico that Biden, who had promised to take action on his first day in office, plans to announce a series of new executive actions on guns. The sources say Biden will be joined at the White House event by members of Congress, Attorney General Merrick Garland, survivors of gun violence, and members of groups that have been pushing for gun control. The actions Biden is expected to announce include a requirement for buyers of home-assembled "ghost guns" to undergo background checks.

Advocates say Biden might also announce new controls on concealed assault-style firearms and a ban on people convicted of domestic violence buying guns. A source tells the AP that Biden is also expected to nominate former federal agent David Chipman as the new director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Thursday. Chipman, an adviser at gun control group Giffords, would be the first permanent ATF director since 2015. Chipman was an ATF agent for 25 years. CNN notes that Biden promised to take action on guns after the mass shooting in Colorado last month, saying, "I don't need to wait another minute, let alone an hour, to take common sense steps that will save lives in the future." (More gun control stories.)

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