President Joe Biden will visit Monterey Park Tuesday, using the site of a deadly mass shooting in January to announce an executive order requiring background checks for all firearm purchases, increasing awareness of “red flag” laws to prevent gun possession by questionable individuals and crack down on loss or theft of weapons during shipping.
Eleven people were killed and nine others injured during the Jan. 21 shooting at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park. After that shooting, the gunman went to the Lai Lai Ballroom and Studio in nearby Alhambra, but he was disarmed in the lobby by Brandon Tsay, whose family owns the studio.
Tsay was among the guests in first lady Jill Biden’s viewing box on Feb. 7 for the president’s State of the Union Address.
According to the White House, Biden on Tuesday will visit Monterey Park and will “grieve with the families and community impacted by the mass shooting.”
He will also announce the executive order “with the goal of increasing the number of background checks conducted before firearm sales, moving the U.S. as close to universal background checks as possible without additional legislation,” according to the White House. The order will instruct the attorney general to ensure that firearm sellers who are ignorant of background check requirements or ignoring them to come in compliance, according to the White House.
The order will also direct members of the Cabinet to work with local communities and law enforcement where “red flag” laws are in effect allowing residents to petition a court to determine if a person presents a public danger, allowing weapons to be temporarily removed from the person’s possession.
Biden’s order will also direct the departments of Transportation and Justice to work on a plan to reduce the loss or theft of firearms during shipment and bolster the reporting of such losses and thefts. According to the White House, there has been a 250% increase in the number of firearms reported lost or stolen during shipment between federally licensed firearms dealers between 2018 and 2022.
The order will also include various other provisions, including authorizing the public release of inspection records for firearms dealers cited for violating federal firearms laws; accelerating federal law enforcement reporting of ballistics data in hopes of catching shooters; improving federal support for gun violence survivors; and advancing efforts to prevent the proliferation of weapons that are undetectable by metal detectors.
Sam Paredes, executive director of Gun Owners of California, told City News Service Biden’s efforts targeting guns have generally focused “on the wrong people.”
“Given that the vast majority of criminal gun violence comes from a small number of repeat offenders, the focus needs to be on this subsection of society, rather than responsible and lawful gun owners,” Paredes told CNS.
Paredes said Biden has “consistently demonstrated his ignorance on everything related to guns and the Second Amendment, publicly stating that the Constitution and Second Amendment were `never absolute.’ He had made a number of prior comments that citizens shouldn’t be able to own popular guns that are in common use today for lawful purposes.”
Biden will make his announcement about the executive order during an appearance at the Boys & Girls Club of West San Gabriel Valley.
The trip will be Biden’s first to the Los Angeles area since Oct. 12-14 when he visited a Metro construction site, spoke at a political fundraiser and at Irvine Valley College.
Biden spent Monday in the San Diego area meeting with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of the United Kingdom and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to discuss the Australia-United Kingdom-United States partnership known as AUKUS.
The president is expected to leave the Los Angeles area after the Monterey Park appearance.
As usual, the White House does not release specific details of the president’s anticipated movements through the area, however, he is scheduled to arrive around 11:40 a.m. at Los Angeles International Airport, then fly via helicopter to San Gabriel Valley airport for the visit to Monterey Park.
Biden will depart LAX around 4:30 p.m. en route to Las Vegas for a Democratic National Committee reception.