White House Forms Office of Gun Violence Prevention
The Biden Administration is establishing a new office, dedicated to the prevention of gun violence.
The White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention will be overseen by Vice President Kamala Harris. President Biden’s longtime policy adviser Stefanie Feldman will serve as director. Gun violence prevention experts Greg Jackson, who led the Community Justice Action Fund, and Rob Wilcox, who worked for Brady and Everytown for Gun Safety, will join as deputy directors.
The goal of the office is to implement executive and legislative policy designed to reduce gun violence.
“I’ll continue to urge Congress to take commonsense actions that the majority of Americans support like enacting universal background checks and banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. But in the absence of that sorely-needed action, the Office of Gun Violence Prevention along with the rest of my Administration will continue to do everything it can to combat the epidemic of gun violence that is tearing our families, our communities, and our country apart,” said President Biden in a statement.
Among the priorities, the office will seek to further implement the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. The act bolsters the review process for firearms buyers under the age of 21, clarifies the definition of a firearms dealer, empowers the Department of Justice (DOJ) with additional authority to prosecute firearms traffickers, improves access to mental health services, and invests in community violence interventions.
The office will also be charged with reviewing existing avenues to reduce gun violence in the absence of legislative action.
"This office will dig deep to find additional life-saving actions that this administration can take," incoming director Feldman told reporters.
Gun control activists had lobbied for the creation of such an office for many years.
Po Murray, Chair of the Newtown Alliance, a gun safety group started after the 2012 mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, stated, “We need a White House team to focus on this issue on a daily basis.”
It is a view echoed by Vice President Harris in her statement.
“The new Office of Gun Violence Prevention will play a critical role in implementing President Biden’s and my efforts to reduce violence to the fullest extent under the law, while also engaging and encouraging Congressional leaders, state and local leaders, and advocates to come together to build upon the meaningful progress that we have made to save lives,” stated Vice President Harris.
Besides the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the Biden Administration pointed to “dozens” of executive orders it has issued on guns, including ones to increase resources to law enforcement and ones to keep repeat offenders and guns off the streets.