President Biden signs executive order around guns
President Biden signed two executive orders this week as his presidency nears an end.
"The president was very clear with us that he expects us to run through the tape and to make sure we're doing all we can as he closes out his term," said Gregory Jackson, the deputy director for the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention.
One of the orders creates a task force to improve school shooter response plans.
"Recognizing that there's been very little research done on how effective they are, but also very little research done on how harmful and how traumatic they can be on our youth. And so we're launching an effort to really dig into these approaches, identifying best practices and how we can minimize harm and trauma while ensuring these are most effective, to ensure that they're preparing our students and our teachers and our school leaders on how to navigate this," Jackson said.
Two years ago, we saw a failed law enforcement response to a school shooter in Uvalde where it took more than an hour to take the gunman down.
The president's other executive action involves Glock switches.
When added to a handgun, the small plastic device turns it into an automatic weapon, like a machine gun.
There have been multiple incidents in Dallas where suspects used Glock switches, in one incident an officer was shot in the leg.
More recently is the mass shooting in Birmingham, Alabama where four people were killed and 17 others were injured.
"We are cracking down on these devices more than ever. But with the task force, we're excited to bring other agencies to the table to explore more solutions. Looking at, are these devices being shipped into our country from other countries? How do we crack down on online sales and social media marketing and sales of these devices, as well as how do we start to address the issue of these being 3D printed?" Jackson said.
With not much time left in office, Biden has rebuffed the notion he is a lame duck president.
Jackson said in addition to the executive orders, the Biden administration announced 12 action items.
"Guidance around how Medicaid dollars can now be leveraged for victim services, for hospital-based strategies, for community-based strategies, for secure storage, education and tools," Jackson said. "Additional funding to help families and those who have been victims or are impacted directly by the issue of gun violence. Recognizing that we have to do more to help people heal and recover and rebound from these tragedies, that when they experience loss or when they were personally harmed."