The president also is expected to announce his nomination of David Chipman as the director of the Justice Department’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to senior administration officials. Chipman is an ATF veteran who currently serves as an adviser for the gun control advocacy group named for former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., who survived a 2011 mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona, as a congresswoman.
President Joe Biden is set to unveil six executive actions aimed at curbing gun violence on Thursday, following a string of mass shootings that has put pressure on the administration to act the president’s long-held campaign promise to tackle gun control
The suspect behind a Boulder, Colorado, grocery store shooting last month that left 10 people dead used a Ruger AR-556 pistol, which looks and operates like a rifle, and even uses the same ammunition as the AR-15 weapon used dozens of U.S. mass killings, but doesn’t qualify as one under U.S. gun laws. The official pointed out the suspect used a pistol that included an arm brace, “which can make a firearm more stable and accurate while still being concealable.”
The president told reporters at his first press conference that addressing gun violence was a “matter of timing,” even though he said he didn’t “need to wait another minute” to address gun violence just days before, following the Boulder shooting.
The first action will direct the Department of Justice to propose a rule within 30 days to stop the proliferation of so-called “ghost guns,” or makeshift weapons that can be constructed at home or that lack a serial number, according to a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the actions ahead of the president’s announcement. The official declined to say whether that meant the Justice Department would classify “ghost guns”
