U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced an executive order in Southern California’s Monterey Park with the goal of strengthening background checks on gun sales in the country reeling from gun violence.
On Jan. 21, 11 people were killed and nine others injured during the shooting at a dance studio in Monterey Park amid a Lunar New Year celebration. Biden called the mass shooting “one of the worst mass shootings in California history.”
“This executive order helps keep firearms out of dangerous hands,” and ramps up his administration’s efforts to hold the gun industry accountable, Biden said.
He also pointed out that the executive order will improve federal coordination to support victims, survivors, and their families and communities affected by mass shootings across the nation.
According to VOX, an American news and opinion website, certain studies suggest that even truly universal background checks may have limited effects on gun violence. VOX added that the recent shootings underscore why narrow reform won’t stop mass shootings and just how embedded gun violence is in the United States.
“America is unique in that guns have always been present, there is wide civilian ownership, and the government hasn’t claimed more of a monopoly on them,” said David Yamane, a professor at Wake Forest University who studies American gun culture.
There have been 110 mass shootings in the United States so far this year and the country has lost more than 8,400 lives to gun violence to date this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a website that tracks gun incident trends in the country.
