President Joe Biden Announces First Federal Office Of Gun Violence Prevention

President Joe Biden is making history.

The United States' 46th president will announce the first-ever office of gun violence prevention on Friday, which will fulfill the “key demand of gun safety activists as legislation remains stalled in Congress," according to two people with direct knowledge of the White House’s plans.

The people said Stefanie Feldman, a longtime Biden aide who previously worked on the Domestic Policy, will, in fact, play a leading role.

Executive director of the Community Justice Action Fund, Greg Jackson, and senior director for federal government affairs at Everytown for Gun Safety, Rob Wilcox, are “expected to hold key roles in the office alongside Feldman,” who worked on gun policy for more than a decade and still oversees the policy portfolio at the White House, according to Politico. The development of the office was first reported by The Washington Post.

Gun Groups have been relentless when it comes to Biden taking action, as to these groups, it is a step towards unanswered pleas for “an assault weapons ban and universal background checks." Activists have contended that such an office can help the administration coordinate gun policy issues across the federal government, all the while allowing the president and Vice President Kamala Harris to exhibit leadership on the issue.

“I really think this is a testament to survivors, impacted communities, pushing for years the administration to do this,” said one of the people with direct knowledge of the plans, who asked to remain anonymous to discuss details ahead of the announcement.

Still, since taking office, the president has invested in executive actions and community violence intervention in an effort to combat this issue. Following back-to-back shootings in Buffalo, N.Y., and Uvalde, Texas in 2022, the White House has been working alongside a bipartisan coalition in Congress in an effort to pass the very first gun legislation into law in nearly three decades.

Signed by Biden in June 2022, that deal “toughened background checks for young gun buyers, helped states implement red flag laws and kept firearms from more domestic violence offenders." In the following month, the Senate confirmed the first director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms since 2013.

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