President Biden announces executive orders on gun control
WASHINGTON D.C., (KRDO) -- President Joe Biden announced six executive orders that he says are the first of many steps to prevent gun violence.
This comes after mass shootings in Boulder, Colorado, and South Carolina. Biden announced one order would place more restrictions on what he calls "Ghost guns". Homemade firearms that can be purchased online without a background check and don't have serial numbers.
Mel Bernstein, the owner of Dragonmans in El Paso County, says while these firearms can be made at home, you need special equipment to mill some of the parts. “The average person could never ever put it together,” Bernstein says.
Another executive order would tighten regulations on pistol-stabilizing braces like the one used in the Boulder King Soopers shooting. Authorities say the suspect in the shooting that killed 10 people used an AR-15 pistol. The firearm has a barrel shorter than 16 inches and instead of a stock has a brace. As of now, these firearms can be purchased after a background check is complete. The executive order would change that.
Instead of these guns being declared as a pistol, they would be declared as a short barrel rifle. That change means there are a lot more restrictions and a lot more steps a person would have to go through to purchase it.
Bernstein says, “It’s like three feet of paperwork, it takes nine months to get approved.” He also says the buyer has to pay an additional $200 and can't take the firearm across state lines. "You like married a gun," Bernstein says. "You can’t lend it to anybody, you can’t bring it to a gunsmith to work on it always has to be either with you or at your house.”
Biden Ordered the Justice Department to issue the proposed rule within 60 days.
Bernstein wants to know once if approved, that would mean everyone who currently has an AR-15 pistol would have to go through this entire process to keep it.
A third executive order by the Biden Administration is also calling on the Justice Department to create "red flag" legislation for states. A controversial law Colorado passed in 2020.
