Biden announces plan to improve firearms enforcement, says it won't affect responsible gun owners

Gun deaths by county type (Washington Post chart; click on image to enlarge it)

President Biden announced a plan to improve enforcement of gun laws Wednesday, in response to soaring violent-crime rates and gun deaths. The plan "includes a new Justice Department policy that will allow the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to revoke federal licenses of gun dealers the first time they violate federal law," Joey Garrison reports for USA Today. "Violations could include selling firearms to a prohibited buyer, failing to run required background checks or falsifying firearm transaction forms or other records."

In 2020, cities saw a bigger spike in gun deaths than suburbs did, and rural areas had a small increase. Rural gun deaths are more likely to be from suicide, but the trend holds true even when suicides are excluded. "Through the first 172 days of 2021, gun violence killed 9,420 Americans, an average of 55 people a day, according to data collected by the Gun Violence Archive, a research nonprofit. The figures include homicides and accidental gun deaths but not suicides," Garrison reports.

Biden said the new plan won't affect responsible gun owners, and "painted the gun reform plan as a common-sense solution to the crime issue," Maeve Sheehy reports for Politico. "He pointed out that the Second Amendment always restricted who could own a gun and what type it could be." Biden said "Folks, this shouldn’t be a red or blue issue. It’s an American issue. We’re not changing the Constitution. We’re enforcing it, being reasonable."