President Biden announced an executive order to increase background checks for firearm sales. The executive order will increase the effective use of “red flag” laws and accelerate law enforcement efforts to identify and apprehend the shooters. President Biden will also encourage the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to issue a public report analyzing how gun manufacturers market firearms to minors.

Last year, President Biden signed into the law the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. The President’s new executive order to reduce gun violence includes the following additional actions:

• Call on Congress to pass universal background check legislation.
• Direct the Attorney General to develop and implement a plan to prevent former federally licensed firearms dealers, whose licenses have been revoked or surrendered, from continuing to engage in the business of dealing in firearms.
• Improve public awareness and increase appropriate use of extreme risk protection (“red flag”) orders and safe storage of firearms.
• Address the loss or theft of firearms during shipping. 
• Encourage the FTC to issue a public report analyzing how gun manufacturers market firearms to minors and how such manufacturers market firearms to all civilians, including through the use of military imagery.
• Accelerate federal law enforcement’s reporting of ballistics data.
• Advance congressional efforts to prevent the proliferation of firearms undetectable by metal detectors.