NewsBiden seeks tighter gun control amid rising violent crime

Biden seeks tighter gun control amid rising violent crime

US President Joe Biden on Wednesday introduced new measures to limit the circulation of firearms, at a time when crime in the country is on the rise.

Major American cities suffered 30% more homicides in 2020, one of the deadliest years in a quarter century. And the data shows that this trend spares no city: big or small, Democratic or Republican.

From the White House, Biden denounced an “epidemic” of violence by firearms that the country has been going through “for a long time and that has worsened since the beginning of the pandemic.”

“Historically, crime increases during the summer, and now that we are out of this pandemic and the country reopens, the traditional summer increase (in crime) could be more pronounced than we would normally see,” he warned.

Biden’s strategy will be focused on bringing more resources to the Police and de-licensing negligent gun dealers.

Five units against arms trafficking

In particular, the president confirmed the creation of five units to deal with arms trafficking, focused on New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington. Well, these cities have registered a sharp rise in homicides in the last year and a half.

They will bring together federal prosecutors, specialized police and local representatives, in order to “investigate and dismantle the criminal networks that deliver weapons to our communities with tragic consequences,” as explained by the attorney general, Merrick Garland.

The president also wants to use part of the budget for the next fiscal year, which has yet to be approved by Congress, so that there is an agent specializing in firearms in every police department in the country.

The initiatives build on decrees signed in April, when Biden asked the Justice Department to crack down on self-assembling “ghost weapons,” US government officials said.

These types of bills allow the president to act without waiting for Congress, in which Democrats have only a slim majority and Republicans generally oppose the imposition of limits on firearms.

Gun rights, protected by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, are one of the thorniest issues in local politics.

And how should the government act when Congress, deeply divided on the issue, refuses to legislate on it? As Barack Obama has already verified in his administration, Biden says he has very limited room for maneuver on this issue.

“I never lose hope,” he said when asked about the lack of legislative progress. “Let’s show the world and ourselves that democracy works, we can do it and save lives.”

Against the “rebel” arms dealers

“There are too many gun dealers who believe they can get away with selling guns to people who are not legally allowed to have them,” Biden denounced in his speech.

The president assured that 5% of the country’s arms dealers sell 90% of the illegal pistols found at crime scenes, and promised “zero tolerance” against those sellers who break the law.

“These merchants of death are breaking the law to obtain financial gain,” he stressed.

“If they purposely sell a gun to someone who is prohibited from carrying it, if they purposely avoid checking the buyer’s background, if they purposely falsify a history … My message to them is: We will find them and take away their license to sell weapons.” he added.

Specifically, Biden ordered his government to revoke the licenses of these traders the first time they are hunted in any of these three circumstances, with the aim of reducing the movement of illegal weapons through the country.

More funds to the police

Biden’s plan also allows states to divert funds from the bailout package approved last March by Congress to mitigate the effects of the pandemic – a total of $ 350 billion – to measures to reduce crime.

Specifically, states will be able to use that money to hire troops, invest in new types of police training, and acquire technology that allows officers to respond more quickly to firearm incidents.

In addition, states will be able to invest in educational programs designed to prevent violence and aimed at those communities that, for social and economic reasons, are more likely to be involved in firearms incidents, either as victims or as perpetrators.

Biden’s emphasis on providing more resources to the Police clashes with the position of the left wing of his party, which during last year’s racial protests embraced a request to reduce precisely the funds to state and local security forces, a move known like “Defund the police”.

“This is not the time to turn our backs on law enforcement or our communities,” Biden argued, however. The president also opted to help in the social reintegration of prisoners to reduce their recidivism, through a greater hiring of them in positions of the federal government.

In addition, the Biden Executive plans to give housing assistance to some former inmates and grant tax incentives to companies that hire a former prisoner in the first 12 months of his release from prison.

An “international disgrace”

The Democratic president also referred to the second amendment to the Constitution, which defends the right to own and bear arms. “There will always be the possibility of limiting the type of weapons that can be used,” he assured in response to those who refuse any type of limitation.

In early April, Biden denounced the “epidemic” of gun violence in the United States, calling it “international shame.”

Although the rise in crime is real, the analysis of the causes and the way to deal with this increase is very different depending on the position on the political scene.

The Republican opposition insists that the deterioration is due to the police reforms adopted – or planned – by certain municipalities after the large demonstrations against police brutality and racism, although the fact that almost all urban centers are affected by the phenomenon weakens this argument.

For North Carolina Rep. Richard Hudson, Biden’s speech will change nothing.

“Calls to cut police funding have led to a dangerous increase in crime. President Biden’s response: propose yet new restrictions on firearms that only affect law-abiding citizens,” he said on Twitter.

“More than limiting weapons, we need to support our police officers,” he added with the hashtag #BidenCrimeCrisis.

“Basic concept Democrats don’t seem to understand: Criminals don’t respect gun laws,” his colleague Andy Biggs quipped.

The spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee (RNC, party secretariat), Emma Vaughn, attributed the increase in crime to the president’s “failure” to “punish his own party for taking funds away from the police.”

Meanwhile, America’s largest civil rights organization, the ACLU, broadly praised Biden’s plan, but warned that some of its elements could exacerbate the “criminalization of” black or Latino communities.

“History has shown that hiring more police officers leads to increased prosecution of petty crimes in communities of color,” ACLU Director of Justice Affairs Udi Ofer said in a statement.

With information from AFP, EFE and Reuters

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