The White House stated Tuesday the United States President Joe Biden urged Congress to pass Gun Control laws swiftly and may take executive action to stop mass violence, a day after the second deadly mass shooting in a week.

The Democrat called on the U.S. Senate to approve two bills passed by the House of Representatives on March 11 that would widen background checks on gun purchasers. Moreover, he called for a ban on assault-style weapons.

Major Facts

One day after a shooting at a super-market in Boulder, Colorado, left ten dead, on Tuesday, President Biden called on the Upper House to immediately pass the bill an assault weapons ban and expand background checks for gun purchases.

Earlier March, the House passed gun reform legislation, but the bills are all but doomed in the U.S. Senate, where Democrats will have to overcome the Sixty-Vote filibuster.

When asked whether the White House would compromise with Gun Control’s executive action if U.S. Congress doesn’t act, Kamala Harris said she wasn’t willing to give up on more lasting reform.

Harris said that Biden wasn’t ruling out executive action on Gun Control, but the White House would first expect Congress to act.

Kamala Harris said that if they want something that will be lasting, they need to pass the legislation.

Background

Following the attack in Boulder, Colorado on Monday, the seventh mass shooting in the United States in seven days, and with Democrats finally, in control of the White House and the United States Congress, Mr. Biden has faced increased pressure to help push gun reform over the finish line.

On Tuesday, in a speech at the White House, the President called on Congress to respond. Biden said that this isn’t and shouldn’t be a partisan issue. It is an American issue. They have to act.

Earlier March, the House passed legislation that would expand background checks to all gun purchases and increase the amount of time the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has to vet a flagged gun buyer from three to ten days. Another preference among most Democrats is an assault weapons prohibition, which Joe Biden called for on March 23.

Joe Biden wouldn’t require the approval of U.S. Congress if he chooses for executive action on gun control, but the reform would possibly not be as substantial. Jen Psaki, White House Press Secretary, told reporters that the President is considering a range of potential executive actions on Tuesday.

With the stroke of a pen, the US President could mandate background checks on so-called ghost guns, which do not even have a serial number, send funds to cities caused by gun violence, and bolster the governmental background check system.

Amazing Fact

United States Senate Democrats will need to convince at least Ten GOPs to join forces on any gun control bill, but it is not clear they even have the backing of the entire caucus.

Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) said that he isn’t in favor of the two-gun reform bills the House passed earlier in March. Manchin told CNN NO; he does not support what the House passed.

Leading Critic

Echoing the sentiment of several GOPs, Senator Ted Cruz blasted Democrats for pushing legislation he says would not stop another mass shooting.

Cruz stated during a Senate Judiciary hearing on gun violence on Tuesday that every time there is a shooting, they play this ridiculous theater where that committee gets together and proposes many laws that would do nothing to halt these shootings.

Polling demonstrates comprehensive support for making background checks universal, 84 percent in a recent Politico survey/ Morning Consult, including 77 percent of GOPs. However, support in the polls drops for H.R. 1446, which would close the FBI background check loophole to 48 percent.

The founder of Moms Demand Action, an influential gun safety group, Shannon Watts, said that the only place this issue doesn’t have bipartisan support is in Washington, in the U.S. Senate. Moreover, they know that gun safety is a policy priority for the US President and his government, but there are executive actions that could be taken that day.

Any new gun control actions signed by Mr. Biden would almost surely face a legal challenge that could reach the US Supreme Court, whose 6-3 conservative majority is concerned with an expansive view of gun rights.

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