In an effort to crack down on gun violence in our country, President Biden introduced six executive orders today. The president saying that gun violence is an epidemic in our country.
“I don’t think gun violence in this country is an epidemic, I think violence in this country is an epidemic,” said Mike McQuown, Owner of The Gun Store.
Among those six executive orders, President Biden is ordering that the Department of Justice require a background check for buyers of ‘ghost guns.’
Ghost guns come in ready to make kits without any serial numbers, making these firearms untraceable to law enforcement.
Though he wasn’t happy to admit it, Mike McQuown, a former cop now gun store owner, is on board with this gun control order.
“I think this needs to be regulated in some way. If it’s serialized, having a background check…at the end of the day you can build one of these in 30 minutes,” he said
Joel Thomas, owner of Xtreme Shooting Sports in DuBois, is also on board with this.
“If you can go out there and patent something and manufacture something you have to legally buy and register you can do it in your home or garage then that’s something we have to figure out how to take a look at it and control,” he said.
President Biden is also asking the DOJ to publish a “red flag” model for states to follow.
Red flag laws allow a police officer or family member to petition the court asking for a firearm to be removed from someone’s possession if they’re a danger to themselves or someone else.
“Red flag laws go down the hill very quickly because they get abused,” said McQuown.
“I just ask that everyone read into the red flag laws because it’s very dangerous slippery slope that if we get it’s going to cause a lot of issues with a lot of law abiding citizens,” said Thomas.
Governor Tom Wolf released this statement in support of Biden saying, “I applaud President Biden for his leadership by signing gun safety executive orders and for taking the first of what I hope are many steps to reduce gun violence across the nation.”
Biden also called on Congress to take steps on gun reform legislation, including re-enacting an assault weapons ban in the wake of last month’s mass shootings.
