An executive order threatens “ghost gun” regulations, red flag laws, and more.

By the time Joe Biden became president in January 2021, guns were the top killer of children and teens in America, overtaking car crashes and cancer as the leading cause of death. As that trend continued, the Biden White House responded with gun safety policies to enforce existing laws and bolster gun-violence prevention programs. In June 2022, following mass shootings at a grocery store in Buffalo, NY, and an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, Congress passed gun legislation for the first time in three decades. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act strengthened background checks for some gun buyers and prohibitions for domestic abusers, and it dedicated about $15 billion for states to build mental health and violence intervention programs. The Biden White House later established the Office of Gun Violence Prevention and an initiative to help states implement “red flag” laws that allow for removing guns from troubled people who pose a danger to themselves or others.

These policies at a broad level have coincided with a reduction in gun violence nationally: By 2024, shooting homicides overall were in steady decline throughout the country. Mass shootings also declined, both by conservative and broader measures of the problem.

Now, President Donald Trump has moved quickly to undo the progress made with gun safety policies. He shut down the Office of Gun Violence Prevention immediately after taking office. And on Feb. 7, he signed an executive order directing US Attorney General Pam Bondi to “examine all orders, regulations, guidance, plans, international agreements, and other actions of executive departments and agencies” from Biden’s term, to assess whether those “infringe on the Second Amendment rights” of Americans. Within 30 days, Bondi is to give Trump “a plan of action.”

    • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      4·
      3 days ago

      Apparently you’re 6 times more likely to get shot to death in Mississippi than you are in NY.

      Deaths per 100,000 people by gunshots

      Mississippi 29.4 Louisiana 28.1 Alabama 25.7 New Mexico 25.3 Alaska 23.6 Tennessee 22.2 Arkansas 22 Montana 21.7 Wyoming 21.6 Missouri 21.4 Oklahoma 20.1 South Carolina 19.3 Georgia 18.8 Arizona 18.7 Nevada 18.5 Indiana 18.4 Kentucky 18.4 Idaho 18.2 West Virginia 16.8 Colorado 16.7 North Carolina 16.7 Kansas 16.3 Texas 15.1 Ohio 15 Utah 15 Maine 14.1 Oregon 14.1 Florida 13.9 Virginia 13.9 Michigan 13.8 Pennsylvania 13.6 Illinois 13.5 Washington 13.1 North Dakota 12.9 Wisconsin 12.7 South Dakota 12.5 Maryland 12.3 Vermont 12.1 Delaware 12.1 Nebraska 10.7 Iowa 10.6 New Hampshire 9.7 Minnesota 9 California 8 Connecticut 6.2 Hawaii 4.9 Rhode Island 4.8 New York 4.7 New Jersey 4.6 Massachusetts 3.7

  • Carmakazi@lemmy.world
    702·
    5 days ago

    If the regime’s intent is to make a vast array of deadly weapons even more easily accessible…my idle advice would be to take advantage of that situation while you still can.

    • earphone843English
      30·
      2 days ago

      I think the plan is to let the violence happen and use it as an excuse to impose martial law and ban guns permanently.

      Remember, Trump is the only president to float the idea of a complete gun ban, and fascists really don’t like personal firearm ownership.

      • rayyy@lemmy.world
        1·
        3 days ago

        It’s likely that Jabba-the-Orange just wants only those who sign loyalty oaths to have guns. The rest will be red flagged for gun confiscation.

      • knightly the Sneptaur@pawb.social
        171·
        5 days ago

        He’s also the only president that’s planning to turn at least half of our enlisted soldiers into unemployed veterans and defunding the VA at the same time.

        It sure sucks to be watching this happen from inside the USA but at least the inevitable result will be entertaining.

      • Carmakazi@lemmy.world
        4·
        5 days ago

        That’s an entire toothpaste factory they would have to unsqueeze. It would be less Emperor Palpatine dissolving the senate and more Yugoslavia circa 1992.

    • djsoren19@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      91·
      5 days ago

      Yeah, this isn’t as much of a negative as people are thinking. You’re gonna want to arm yourself if you’re trapped in the U.S., making it easier is a bit of a blunder. Should move fast though, because once they realize their blunder they’ll make laws to restrict only us from owning firearms.

  • MyOpinion@lemm.ee
    262·
    5 days ago

    More school shootings, polio, pollution, inflation. Thank you ignorant voters.

    • earphone843English
      142·
      5 days ago

      But we definitely showed the dems for not promising us a pony!

  • einlander@lemmy.world
    111·
    5 days ago

    They choose to arm those who would rise up against them? Then we should make sure their choice is not made in vain.

  • Laser@lemmy.caEnglish
    166·
    5 days ago

    What progress? Kids are still being shot in schools regularly down there and gun violence in the streets seems exactly the same

    • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      4·
      3 days ago

      When Trump became president the first time deaths went from 15,907 to 21,383. Then he left office and Biden brought it from 21,383 down to 16,725.

      So ~34% increase from 2017-2021. And a ~22% decrease from 2021-2024

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    128·
    5 days ago

    I seem to be getting told lately that guns are the cause and the solution to all of America’s problems.