Gun control activist group March for Our Lives issued the Biden administration a list of policy demands they want implemented in its first 100 days, which includes immediately releasing at $1 billion to combat gun violence.
March for Our Lives, which formed in the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018, also called on Biden to declare gun violence a national public health emergency in the way COVID-19 was. They also want him to create a new cabinet position called the director of gun violence prevention.
The organization foresees the new director appointing a “gun violence prevention task force” that works with several federal bureaucracies to “empower federal agencies that have been weakened by the gun lobby.”
“Much like the COVID-19 pandemic, and the HIV pandemic before it, the gun violence epidemic requires a unified, national plan with a public health lens,” the organization said. “President Biden must appoint a Director of Gun Violence Prevention and dedicate at least $1 billion in funding to combat gun violence, rebuilding our research and data collection infrastructure while supporting community-based violence intervention programming.”
“For years, Congress has failed to pass substantial changes to our nation’s gun laws, and thousands of Americans have died because of it,” March For Our Lives Executive Director Alexis Confer said in a statement. “It has been three years since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that sparked our movement, yet countless Americans have suffered in communities due to daily gun violence since then.”
“It’s time to get to work, and young people demand a seat at the table — it is time for a national plan to stop the violence,” Confer added.
Max Markham, March For Our Lives Policy Director, said, “We have set forth the policy for the White House to immediately act to save lives. Time and time again, we have seen Congress fail to pass the sweeping reform needed to drastically cut down violence in communities across the country. March For Our Lives is committed to working with the Biden-Harris Administration to ensure campaign promises are enacted including executive action and funding to reduce gun violence in America.”
“Our generation is not interested in thoughts and prayers; we look forward to the President implementing foundational gun violence prevention policies,” Markham added.
Among the executive orders the organization demands from Biden within his first 100 days:
- Near-universal background checks, requiring anyone who sells 5 or more guns per year to run a background check on all gun sales.
- Mandate and enforce license revocation for gun manufacturers and dealers who break the law.
- Closing the boyfriend loophole to prevent those convicted of domestic abuse from purchasing firearms.
- Reversal of President Trump’s dangerous change to the definition of “fugitive from justice.”
- Hold the gun industry accountable by directing the IRS to open an investigation into the tax-exempt nonprofit status of the NRA, and direct the FEC to investigate whether the NRA has broken campaign finance laws.
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