Gun rights
groups are already threatening litigation against President
Joe Biden
‘s executive order designed to increase background checks, arguing his action is overly broad and will target legal gun owners.
“Biden’s executive orders today attempting to implement a pro-criminal, anti-gun agenda show that when Joe Biden and his fellow gun-grabbers have a choice between defending the rights of law-abiding citizens or siding with violent criminals, he chooses the
criminals
,” Patrick Parsons, executive vice president at the American Firearms Association, told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday.
BIDEN ROLLING OUT NEW EXECUTIVE ORDER ON GUNS IN CALIFORNIA
Parsons vowed that AFA would “fight to overturn these tyrannical, unconstitutional dictates at the state and federal levels, as well as in the courts.”
Biden’s order was issued during a visit to Monterey Park in California, where 11 people were killed in January following a mass shooting during Lunar New York celebrations.
White House officials told reporters the order seeks to increase the number of national background checks, promote proper gun safety and storage among owners, and aid local law enforcement agencies in making use of existing resources such as the bipartisan
gun control
law Biden signed into law in 2022 following the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
“It’s just common sense to check whether someone is a felon, a domestic abuser before they buy a gun,” Biden said Tuesday.
GOA warned Compromise Cornyn and Mitch McConnell of the outcome of their “bipartisan” anti-gun legislation & now we’re seeing executive orders for backdoor Universal Background Checks and funding every single “red flag” gun confiscation law.
CC: @JohnCornyn, @LeaderMcConnell https://t.co/8pyhaXU2EM
— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) March 14, 2023
Another Second Amendment rights group, Gun Owners of America, took to social media to cast responsibility on Republican lawmakers such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY) and Sen. John Cornyn (TX) for their support of bipartisan legislation last year.
“GOA warned Compromise Cornyn and Mitch McConnell of the outcome of their ‘bipartisan’ anti-gun legislation & now we’re seeing executive orders for backdoor Universal Background Checks and funding every single ‘red flag’ gun confiscation law,” the group tweeted Tuesday evening.
Aidan Johnston, director of federal affairs at GOA, also
signaled
the group “will fight back” in court against Biden’s executive order.
Johnston claimed in a separate
tweet
that “Universal Background Checks are only enforceable [with] a gun registry that shows the government who legally transferred a firearm & who hasn’t,” arguing, “That’s why” the administration
previously made it a requirement
for federal firearms licensees to maintain all firearm transaction records permanently.
The National Rifle Association didn’t say whether it was planning litigation but suggested the Biden administration was targeting the wrong types of gun owners, telling the Washington Examiner that “crimes are committed by criminals.”
“Until President Biden and his allies decide to go after violent criminals, violence will continue to spiral out of control as it has. The focus of our laws and efforts should be on the criminal element and not on law-abiding Americans,” an NRA spokeswoman said.
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Meanwhile, Democrats championed Biden’s order Tuesday, with lawmakers such as Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) calling Biden’s decision an “important step forward that will save lives” through “expanding the use of red flag laws, supporting law enforcement efforts to identify and apprehend shooters, and strengthening accountability for gun manufacturers.”
The Washington Examiner contacted the offices of Cornyn and McConnell for response.