President Biden and Vice President Harris announced new executive actions on Thursday to address gun violence, an election-year move that builds the president’s legacy on the issue and provides Harris with a fresh opportunity to highlight her leadership, the Associated Press reports. During a White House event Thursday, Biden plans to sign an executive order designed to address the trauma inflicted on children by active shooter drills in schools as well as tackle the threat of machine gun conversion through small devices that can be made with a 3D printer and turn a handgun into a fully automatic weapon. The actions are timed to this week’s one-year anniversary of Biden’s creation of the first-ever office of gun violence prevention — which he launched, in part, to identify additional ways to tackle gun violence from the executive branch without Congress. The joint Biden-Harris appearance, one of a handful since the president turned his reelection campaign over to her in July, will highlight Harris’ role overseeing the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. It also provides an opportunity for her to lean into her leadership on an issue in her official capacity as vice president while giving her fresh policies to tout on the campaign trail.
It’s also a legacy-building exercise for Biden, likely among his last moves on what has been a top policy priority for his White House, from promoting passage of the first gun legislation in 30 years to issuing more executive actions on the issue than any prior administration. The event is the culmination of a week of efforts from the White House to highlight the office’s work. The White House rolled out a report this week on the office’s anniversary, highlighting the administration’s actions — including that under the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, enhanced background checks have blocked thousands of gun sales to people under the age of 21 and those convicted of misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence. The White House touted the drop in violent crime after the FBI reported that homicides fell by 11.6 percent nationwide in 2023, and that violent crime reports overall fell by 3 percent after a surge during the pandemic.