White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has confirmed that President Joe Biden will sign executive orders regarding gun control.
In just 86 days, there have already been over 100 mass shootings in the United States, Insider reports. Earlier today, it was revealed by police that two people have died following a series of shootings in Virginia Beach last night.
Additionally, 10 people - including one police officer - lost their lives last week (March 22), following a shooting at a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado. And this came less than a week after eight people - six of whom were Asian - were killed in a series of spa shootings in Atlanta, Georgia.
During a press conference at the White House on Friday (March 26), White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked by a reporter if "we should still be expecting executive orders from the President on gun measures."
To which, Psaki replied: "Yes."
Psaki was unable to give an exact timeframe of when we can expect Biden to sign the orders, but she did add: "When the President was the vice president in the Obama-Biden administration, he helped put in place 23 executive actions to combat gun violence. It’s one of the levers that we can use."
It comes after Biden said on Tuesday, following the shooting in Boulder: "I don’t need to wait another minute, let alone an hour, to take common sense steps that will save lives in the future and to urge my colleagues in the House and Senate to act."
The President continued: "We can ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines in this country once again. I got that done when I was a senator. [...] We should do it again."
Biden then called on the US Senate to "immediately pass" two House-passed bills that would expand background checks for firearm sales.
"These are bills that received votes from both Democrats and Republicans in the House. This should not be a partisan issue.
"This is not and should not be a partisan issue, this is an American issue. It will save lives, American lives, and we have to act," Biden said.
Per the New York Post, 35 Senate Democrats introduced legislation earlier this month that would see "assault weapons" such as AR-15s banned from purchase.
However, the publication adds that the legislation is not likely to pass fur to the relatively even chamber and the fact that the bill would require 60 votes in order to proceed.
